Its Complicated
by deathraptor22
Summary: Season 10 AU. When a novice witch accidentally turn Dean and Cas into toddler, Sam and Hannah become somewhat awkward co-parents. Mixture of fluff and plot.
1. Who Let The Dogs Out?

"I don't get it." Dean said, as Sam, himself and the elderly owner of the properly they were now on, stared at had been her prize rose bush, "They're a weird color, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is," The woman said, her arms crossed, "That roses are not naturally green. There are orange roses, are there blue roses, there are even verities of purple roses, but there is no such thing as a green rose, but here we are. Also, a week ago they were pink."

"And this was a week after the disappearances?" Sam asked.

They were just outside of the Lebanon city limits. Sam had seemed some reports on disappearances and other strange appearances happening in their own back yard, and they decided to take a look. They had some greater concerns at the moment, but so far, they weren't getting anywhere with the Mark of Cain and it wasn't exactly a drive.

"Yes, yes it was." The woman answered, "And two days before that girl came back."

One of the victims, a waitress named Serena Joy Johnson, had showed up at hospital a few days before Sam and Dean caught wind of the case, claiming to have no idea what had happened to her. Both brothers suspected she knew more than she was letting on, but she was sticking to her story.

"Thank you for your time." Sam said, as he and Dean made their leave.

"I hope it helps." The woman called out, though she still had no clue what her nature defying roses had to do with the recent disappearances.

Dean was inclined to agree with her. As they walked towards the Impala he said, "Okay, so that's weird, but I don't get how this relates to three missing people. I also don't get how a bunch of groceries cooking or rotting or a doll coming to life for an hour has to do with it."

"Me neither, Dean," Sam admitted, "But three people going missing in a fortnight accompanied by seemingly random not noticeable weirdness can't be a coincidence. Plus, the produce thing happened at the same dinner everyone disappeared from."

"Okay," Dean admitted, "You think maybe witch?"

"Maybe." Sam said as he got into the shotgun sheet, "But why the random stuff?"

"Maybe it's a sadistic witch that's toying with everyone for the Hell of it." Dean suggested, "Or maybe it's a witch that's not too good at-witching."

"Witching?" Sam replied, "Is that even a word?"

"Yeah," Dean protested, "It means-to do witch things."

Sam scoffed good-naturedly as Dean pulled out of the drive.

They were halfway to the motel where something caught Sam's attention. It was a young blonde woman in a slightly over-sized leather jacket and torn-up jeans chasing some sort of golden retriever mix down the street.

"Hey, isn't that the bust girl from the dinner?" Sam asked.

Dean turned in the direction Sam was looking. "Yeah," Dean said, "Yeah, I think it is."

"Mr. Chance, Mr. Chance!" The bust girl shouted as she chased after the canine.

"That's a weird name for a dog," Dean said, "Hey, isn't one of our vics named Robert _Chance?_ "

"Yeah, it was." Sam replied.

"Call it a hunch," Dean said, "But I think we should follow her."

"Yeah," Sam replied, "But how without her noticing?"

At that point, the bust girl just jumped into the air tackling the dog. "It's okay," She said, wrestling the dog, "I'm not gonna hurt you, I just need to fix what I did." Somehow, she was able to get a hold of the dog in spite of her small frame and carried him over to an older blue nova that already had a distressed German Sheppard in the back seat. Struggling to keep dog in her grasp she attempted to pull open the door with her foot.

"I'll give her one thing," Dean smirked, "She puts on a Hell of a show."

"I don't know rather to pistol-whip her to rescue the dogs or help her." Sam added as they watched the scene unfold.

Finally, she was able to get the truck open and the dog in the back, barely managing to get the door shut before both dogs escaped. Then she got into the car and drove off.

Dean changed lanes to follow her, making sure to stay far enough away that she didn't notice. She drove off into a clearing near the woods, and that's when things got tricky. Basically, they had to park far enough away that she still didn't realize she was being followed. By the time they found her again she had put the cage out and had the German Shepherd tied to a tree with a makeshift least, as she appeared to preparing some sort of spell.

"Dude, is she gonna kill that dog?" Dean asked, clearly worried.

"No clue." Sam admitted, "Let's just wait."

"For what?" Dean challenged, "For her to do something terrible to the dog? I mean, come, you're the one that usually likes dogs."

While they were talking the girl started burning something.

Dean went for his gun, but Sam grabbed his wrist as the girl started chanting. "Accipite hanc animam viventem in genere sou, et misit in formula iuris formam semel."

Suddenly the smoldering fire burst into flame. At the same time, the dog started to wine then howl as its body started to glow. Its body then began to twisted into painful looking forms as its hair receded and its ears flattened. Soon the flight faded and standing in the place of the dog, was a man.


	2. Just A Girl In The World

The young man looked to be in his early twenties. He was pale, with short brown hair. He was completely necked, still on all fours shaking. He looked around, confused and scared.

"Okay" The girl said, rushing over to the boy and carefully helping him to his feet, "Here we go."

"R-Reason?" The young man asked, "W-What's going on?"

"I can explain, I promise," The girl, Reason apparently, began anxiously, "I just need to take care of Mr. Chance, okay?"

The young man's breathing steadied as she leads him over to the truck bed. That was when he noticed the two spies. "W-who are they?"

Reason moved her gaze to where the man was looking and saw Sam and Dean. "Keith run," Reason said, clearly panicked. She quickly grabbed the other dog and the three legged it in the opposite direction of Sam and Dean.

The brothers quickly gave chase. "Look, we just wanna talk!" Sam shouted. He wasn't sure if it was true but he wanted to get them to stop running. Besides, he was liking Dean's "crappy witch'' theory more and more.

"Okay, go off to the right." Reason whispered and Keith's ear, "They can't run after both of us. I'll lose them then meet you at the bridge, okay?"

Keith nodded as Reason handed him Mr. Chance and the two split ways.

"You get Keith and the dog, I'll go after the girl." Dean said, running after Reason before Sam could stop him.

Sam couldn't see Keith anymore, but he ran off in the direction he hands went calling, "Keith! Keith! Look, we don't want to hurt you or Reason. We just want to figure out what's going on here." Sam's pace slowed as he heard whimpering. His slowly moved and saw a figure struggling with a very familiar dog behind a tree. He crept slowly towards the tree being careful to make as little noise as possible. When he was close enough he gently but a hand on Keith's shoulder. The young man jolted, looking up at Sam with wide, fearful eyes.

"It's alright," Sam hushed, taking off his jacket, and starting to drape it over the boy's shoulder, "We just wanna get you out of here, and find you some warm clothes. I think I saw some at the campsite."

"W-What about Reason?" Keith asked.

"My partner went after her," Sam replied, "How do you know her, anyway?"

Meanwhile Dean had lost his prey in the woods. "You're making this a lot harder than this has to be," He called, "Just show yourself and come with me, it will all be okay." As he said those words he could feel his temper starting to rise. It was then he felt something cold in his hands. He looked down and saw he was holding his hand gun.

 _"The Hell?"_ Dean thought, alarmed. He didn't even remember pulling out his gun. It's not like he needed it. Well, she was witch, so maybe he did. Suddenly an awful wicked feeling stole through him, and he could feel his gun moving towards the trigger. Then he pulled it quickly away, putting the gun up. He inhaled deeply, fighting off the blood thirst, letting his rational side take over. _"She turned that guy back into a human."_ He told himself, _"Whatever's going on, she was trying to fix it. I mean, that look on her face, she's just a scared kid."_

It was then he saw his target moving through the trees.

"Hey!" Dean shouted, "Hey, stop!"

But she still ran, able to keep at least few inches between her and Dean. They came to an old rusty metal bridge and she stopped after crossing the threshold, looking around like a trapped animal. Somehow, she had lost her direction and lead her pursuers right to the spot where she intended to meet Keith. Where could she could go now?!

Dean edged closer to her. "Please," She began, backing up, "Just let us go. We won't tell anyone. Who would believe us anyway?"

"We can deal with that later." Dean began, "I just need you to come with me, alright?" He grabbed her wrist gently, but she struggled, pulling away, trying to run. Using her free hand, she slapped him.

While the slight was small and understandable under the circumstances, the influence of the Mark of Cain made Dean see red. "Oh, so you want to do this the hard way?!" He streamed, tightening his grip on her wrist, grabbing the other and slamming her against the side of the bridge so hard it shook. One wrong move and she could fall. Dean held her life in his hands. "Please," Reason begged, "Please don't."

Dean pushed her a little harder, and before any either one knew what had happened, Reason had fell over the edge. She grabbed onto the rail and was clinging to it for dear life. Dean was just staring at her coldly, and she was pretty sure he was going to make her lose her grip.

"Please, I have a daughter!" Reason screamed tears welling up in her eyes.

"Dean!" Sam voice shouted behind him.

Turning around and seeing the horrified look on his brother's face, he realized what he had almost done. "Oh, God," He said, reaching out and grabbing her arm, "Sam, get over here!"

Sam did, and together they helped Reason pull herself back up.

"Don't worry, we got you." Dean said, "Okay, probably not the most reassuring thing right now, but I won't let you drop. I'm so sorry. I don't usually do things like this." At that point, they managed to get her safely back on the bridge.

"What-what did you do to Keith?" Reason asked.

"I took him back to the place you set up." Sam said, as he met them on the bridge, "He got the clothes you left for him and he's waiting by the car with Robert. You mind telling us how they turned into dogs?"

"It was an accident, I swear." Reason whimpered, clearly still terrified.

"Would it feel better if we had this conversation away from the bridge?" Sam asked, giving Dean an accusing look.

"Yeah," Reason said, "Yeah, that'd be great."

"It all started about two months ago." Reason explained as they walked back through the forest, "I was walking back home from my second job, and this creep comes out of nowhere and starts hitting on me, you know, what's a pretty thing like you doing out all alone, you know things like that."

"Uh, hun," Sam nodded.

"So, I was trying to get away from the guy, but he was sticking to me like a bad penny, and I couldn't go home with him following me because of Maudie, you know?" She explained.

"Maudie, ah, is that your daughter?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Reason replied. Pulling a picture out of her jacket. It was the photo of girl of about two playing with a stuffed white seal with a Christmas ribbon around its neck.

Dean's heart shank. He almost orphaned a toddler.

"Then out of nowhere there this-force, or something throws him against the wall," Reason continued, "Then I see this woman, and it was weird, even if there hadn't been a guy pinned against because she was all dressed up like she was going was going some sort of fancy party or something."

"And other than that, what did she look like?" Sam cut in.

"She has long read hair that's kind of wavy," Reason replied, "And she's Scottish. Anyway, she asked if I needed help, and, well, I did, so we walk and talk and she ask me about my life and I tell her, and it's not exactly a pretty picture, I mean, I squat in trailer in the woods and my second job includes selling border-line contraband out of the back of mini-van. Then she says has an offer, and I was little apprehensive, but, hey, what do I have to lose, right? Then she goes and tell me she a witch, which normally I would have just backed away slowly but-for all I knew that prev was still stuck to that wall, so I went along with it, and she said, if I wanted, she could make me her student, teach me magic, said that I could use it to make my life better, make Maudie's life better, she even said, that once she got older she could teach her too, so I said yes." Her eyes went to the ground.

The Winchesters didn't approve of what Reason had did, but they could understand why she did it. "And where is this-teacher now?"

"She said since I was doing so well, she wanted to take on a couple of more students," Reason explained, "Told me to practice until she got back."

"And you though turning you co-workers into dogs was a good way to do that?" Dean asked.

"I didn't mean to!" Reason exclaimed, "I was trying to test the spell on rats in the trash behind the dinner, then Keith and S. J. stepped back and startled me, and I hit them and Mr. Chance instead."

"And the other stuff?' Dean asked.

"I was trying to find the right spell to use to get them back," Reason answered, "I didn't want to use it on them until I knew it wasn't going to hurt them."

By the time Reason had finished her story they had reached the campsite. When Keith saw them, he ran towards them. "Reason." He said, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Reason answered, "I just need to fix Mr. Chance then we can all get out of here." She turned to the Winchesters and asked, "We _can_ get out of here, right?"

"Yeah," Sam replied, "We just need to ask you a few more questions, then we can go, but we will be checking in, in case your teacher comes back, just-don't try anything like this again, please."

When she finished the spell, they told Robert Chance and Keith everything-well, the board storks at least, and convinced them not tell anyone. Then they sat Reason down and began seriously grilling her about the woman who introduced her to magic.

"Her name's Rowena." Reason explained, "I don't have a last name, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Sam said, "But can you give us anything else, though?"

"She's on the run from this group called the Grand Coven," Reason replied, "It's like some witch union or something."

"Witches have unions now, great." Dean said.

"That's really all I know." Reason finished, "She spent most of the time teaching me spells and you saw what happened."

"Hey," Sam said, "It could have been a lot worst. At least you were able to fix it."

"Sam, are you actually encouraging her to do witchcraft?" Dean murmured, leaning over.

"No, I'm just throwing her a bone," Sam murmured back, "You nearly threw her off a bridge, Dean. I think it's safe to say she's having a rough day."

Hearing what had been she said, "What was with that, anyway? I mean, one second, I'm fairly certain I'm gonna die, next minute, you're apologizing and trying to save me."

"It's kinda a long story." Sam said, unwilling to talk.

"Seriously?" Reason balked, feeling a bit bold, "I bore everything to you and I still have no frickin' idea who you two even are."

"I don't see how who we are is any of your business." Dean said threateningly.

Reason casted her eyes down and seem to shrink.

"You know, what" Dean said, trying to salvage the situation, "You're right. I'm Dean, this is my brother Sam. We're what you call hunters, basically, we look for weird crap, and we kill it-" Seeing her eyes widen, he added, "Usually, but there are exceptions to the rule, like this situation we got here. As for my-anti-social behavior, I have this-well, let's just call it a curse for time's sake and it's slowly turning me into a homicidal maniac. "

Reason's eyes bulged. "Is there anything you can do about it?"

"We're working on it." Dean replied.

Suddenly she got an idea. "Hey, I don't need those books anymore, you wanna borrow them?" Maybe they'd remember she'd helped them and leave her alone.

Dean was about to decline when Sam said, "Sure."

"Ah, Sam," Dean began, "Can I see you over there for a moment?" He was pointing a little way away from the truck.

"Sure," Sam said, not knowing what was wrong, but knowing that something was wrong.

The boys went just off to the other sign of the campsite and Dean began, "Are we seriously doing this? Asking her for help?" He pointed back to Reason as he asked it.

"We've been spinning our wheels for weeks, Dean." Sam argued, "What could it hurt?"

"What could it hurt?" Dean asked, " She accidently turned her friends into _dogs,_ Sam. Dogs. Who knows what she might do to me."

"We won't let her cast the spell, Dean," Sam replied, "She clearly has no clue what she's doing. We're just look through her stuff, and if we find something we'll work from there, and if not-well, back to the drawing board."

"Okay," Dean conceded, then the pair walked back over to Reason, "Looks like we're taking you up on your offer to help."

"Great," Reason said, with a certain amount of feigned enthusiasm, "Can't wait."


	3. Purer States

"Are you entirely sure you can trust her?" Castiel asked, as he talked to Sam on the phone, while trying to drive at the same time.

After 24 hours of searching they had found a spell that would take Dean back, "to a purer state." They weren't entirely sure what that meant, but they giving it a shot, which is why Sam gave Cas a call just to let him know what was going on. Which might not had been the best idea because the angel was in his car before Sam could finish explaining the situation.

"Yeah," Sam replied, "She didn't mean to hurt anyone, she was just trying to make a better life for her kid. And after what happened, I think we should be lucky she's willing to help us _at all_."

Just then Cas went into a turn, barely making it. "Maybe I should hold the phone for you." Hannah suggested. She really didn't want them to be the first angels to die because of reckless driving.

Cas handed the phone to Hannah who put it on speaker. "You know, you really don't have to come all the way out here, Cas." Sam urged, "I mean, I'm not even sure it's a good idea in your...you know, condition."

"I'm fine." Castiel insisted.

There was a paused, then Sam asked, "You wouldn't happen to have dragged that girl angel you've been hanging out with you along by any chance, would you?"

"You should probably know you're on speaker right now." The new subject of the conversation spoke up, "And my name's Hannah, by the way."

"Right, sorry." Sam replied, "What I wanted to ask you is, is he telling the truth?"

Hannah paused for minute, mulling over the answer. For the most part, he did seem stable, but every now and then she caught sign that Cas might be starting to deteriorate again.

"He's not perfect, but he's much better than he has been." She answered at long last.

"That...really clears things up." Sam replied somewhat awkwardly, just the subtlest hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Why would Cas have to drag me along?" Hannah asked, just trying to change the subject.

"Because you don't actually like us that much?" Sam replied, still awkwardly.

Hannah was stunned into silence. Sure, the sentence wasn't untrue, but still, that was a somewhat blunt way to put it.

"Well, it might help if you remembered my name." Was what she finally came back with, even managing to be a bit indigent.

"You're right." Sam said sincerely, "I'm sorry."

 _Wasn't expecting that._ Hannah thought, but said out loud, "Thank you."

"Look," Cas cut in, "Just-promise me you won't do anything until we get there, okay? We're only an hour and a half away now."

"Okay." Sam gave in at last, "We can wait that long. Gives us time to talk Reason out of the level of secrecy she's demanding. See you when you get here."

"You too," Castiel replied before Sam hung up.

"You know, I agree with Sam on this." Hannah said as she put the phone down, "I don't see how we can help them."

"This young lady has no clue what's she's doing." Cas explained, "They might not want to admit it, but if this goes wrong it could very well turn into an all hands-on deck situation, fast. You don't have to actually come with me, you can just wait in the car if you want."

"No." Hannah protested, "You're right about needing all the help you can get if this goes sideways."

"But I know Sam and Dean aren't your favorite people..." Cas began.

"I think I can handle it for an afternoon," Hannah reasoned, "Besides, maybe it will get them to remember my name."

"I'll admit," Cas replied, "That was kind of bad."

When they arrived at the wooded area where Sam had asked them to meet, both brothers and an anxious looking young woman they assumed was Reason were waiting for them. "These are the guys you insisted on waiting on?" She asked as the pair got out of the car and approached them.

"Yeah," Sam answer, "This is our friend Castiel, and his sister, Hannah."

"Nice to meet you." Reason to both of them, then directing it at Hannah added, "That was actually on my list of names when I was pregnant."

"Um...interesting?" Hannah replied, not really sure how to take the comment.

"There's no need to try to humanize yourself." Sam said, "We're not gonna hurt you or your daughter we just need you to do the spell."

That elected a collective, "What?!" from the group.

"I thought we agreed we weren't going to let her actually perform the spells." Dean reminded him.

"That was before actually got a look at the thing." Sam replied.

"If so complicated it intimidates you, do you really think you should allow her to do it?" Cas asked, "Or need I remind you how she accidently turned her coworkers into dogs and discolored a rose bush?"

"I fixed the dog thing." Reason protested, a little insulted, "Both Mr. Chance and Keith are back home and Serena's at my place watching Maudie."

"Maudie?" Hannah spoke up.

"What I actually wound up naming my baby girl." Reason explained," Actually Maude, after my grandmother. Look the point is, I know I made some mistakes, but I'm not incompetent."

"No one's saying that." Castiel said quickly, "We just think maybe it should be performed by someone with a little more experi-"

"You know what," Reason said, grabbing onto Dean's wrist, "Yes, Sam, I'll gladly do it. Come on!"

Reason dragged Dean through the woods, the others fallowing behind. Dean struggled a little, but didn't fight back to much, trying to make up for his earlier behavior.

"Look, Reason," Sam tried, "You admitted yourself, you haven't been the best with magic."

"Then I'll have to be very careful about it, won't I?" Reason responded.

"At least let us help you." Sam pleaded.

Reason had calmed down enough that she was will to listen to her name a bit. "Alright." She relented, "You can come in, but I still take the lead on this, okay?"

"Okay." Sam agreed.

By that point they had arrived at small wooden shed with a metal roof.

"I figured these things weren't safe to have around a two-year-old." Reason explained as she used a make-shift key to unlock the make-shift lock on the door, "And no one was using this, show I set up shop here." She opened the door and gestured for them to come in, "Sorry, if it's a bit small."

"Beggars can't be choosers." Dean replied, as he fallowed the others in.

They found a small room with plain brown walls lined with selves that were filled with all-time kind of magic-related items, some the recognized, some they didn't. In the center of the room was a square plastic table. Reason walked over to the back self and grabbed a clear plastic jar that might have held peanut butter at one point, but now held some sort of yellow flower. There was pink label that read _yarrow_ on it. She then proceeded to take several different items off the shelves and put them on the table.

"Exactly how complicated was that spell?" Cas whispered to Sam.

"It has two and half parts to it. " Sam replied.

"How do you have half a part to a spell?" Hannah asked.

"She has to put the final ingredients into bowel and say the spell at the same time." Sam explained.

"So, are you guys gonna help me with this or just stand around whispering?" Reason asked.

Five minutes later they had everything ready. Reason threw yellow power at Dean then started throwing ingredients into a large stained porcelain bowel. "Somebody want to pour the goat bile while I say this?" She asked.

Dean walked over and picked up the clear bottle began to pour as Reason read from the book. " _accipite han animam et reduc ad lucram ad purissimum cumremotis omnium labe est ut parvulus!"_

For a moment, nothing happened but then a pale green light started to glow from inside the bowel, slowly getting brighter and growing larger.

"Is that supposing to happen?" Sam asked.

"I don't know." Reason admitted, "I've never done this spell before remember?"

Thinking fast, Cas grabbed Sam by the arm and did the same with Hannah and tossed them out the door. He then turned and went back for Dean but it was too late, the green light exploded, shaking the whole shed.

Seeing the already frail building shake and hearing the boom, Sam and Hannah rushed back through the door calling the names of their respective brothers, only to find two piles of clothes where they had been.

"Are they-" Sam began.

Just then the piles of cloth started to move and they could hear the sounds of quiet sobs and whimpers. Sam knelt down the pile of Cas' clothes which were closer to them, and gingerly pulled them pack revealing a small child that looked eerily similar to Castiel, looking up at them with large blue eyes that now held tears. As Sam pulled back the coat a little further, he realized the tot had pair of downy black wings protruding from his back. Reason pulled back Dean's clothes revealing a child of the same age that also looked like a toddler version of Dean, helpless and visibly shaking.

"They're...children." Hannah said, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"Holy crap." Sam breathed.


	4. Do Over

Maternal instinct kicking in Reason hurried from under the table scooped the toddler Dean up, bouncing him a little in her arms, trying to comfort him. "Sssh," She soothed, "I got you. It's alright."

"No, it's not alright." Sam said, "You turned my brother and our friend into toddlers. How do you perform a spell to remove something than turn someone into a toddler?"

"I would like to point out that I _did_ get rid of the Mark." Reason said holding out Dean's little arm, revealing it to be free of any markings, the actual Mark or otherwise.

"Yeah, that would be great," Sam began, "If he weren't _two years old!_ "

That extracted fresh tears from both children, Dean burying his head into Reason's chest. A few seconds later Cas whimpered, "I want my mommy."

That was when it hit Sam, not only were they de-aged physically, they were also de-aged _mentally_ as well, so they had to scared out of their minds wondering what in the world was going on, and now he was screaming at them. Then what Cas had said hit him, and he realized that in addition to that, they might not have any memories of their past lives. On one hand that might be a good thing as he doubted toddlers could process all the pair had gone through, but on the other hand that meant, in their minds a least, they were surrounded by strangers and at least one of them was angry. At least if Cas was any indication it wasn't complete amnesia, as he still knew how to talk and what a mother was, even if he didn't know he didn't have one.

The first thing Sam did next was kneel beside Cas, picking him up. The youngster immediately started kicking and screaming and flapping his wings. "Play the mother role for a little bit?" Sam requested of Hannah as he placed the squalling toddler in her arms. Not sure what to do she copied Reason's actions, gently bouncing and whispering reassurances as Sam approached Reason and Dean. "Hey, buddy," Sam said gently, "I'm sorry I yelled. I just-don't know what's going on and I wanna figure it out. Do you think you can help me?"

Dean looked up at him, slightly more receptive now that Sam was asking nicely.

"Can you tell me your name?" Sam asked.

Dean was quiet for a long moment, then whimpered, "No," starting to get upset again, because there must be something very wrong if he didn't even know his own name.

"It's okay, it's okay." Sam said quickly, "Because I actually know your name. Your name is Dean."

"Dean." The toddler repeated, trying the name on for size.

"Yeah." Sam affirmed, "Yeah, that's you."

Now that he knew who he was, Dean moved to a new person. "Who that?" He asked, pointing directly at Cas.

"That's Castiel," Sam said, "He's your friend, more like a brother."

"He my bwother?" Dean asked.

Sam looked around for help but found himself completely on his own, until at last he said, "Sure, let's go with that for now."

"How did this happen?" Hannah finally asked, "The spell-"

"Hold on a sec." Reason said, before pressing Dean's head against her chest, covering the ear that was exposed. She gestured with her head for Hannah to do the same with Cas.

She did, then continued. "How did the spell get so off?"

"Maybe it didn't." Sam said, "The spell said it meant to bring things to a purer form, maybe it meant that it literally brings them back to the state where they were at their most pure and innocent. Because how we grew up Dean didn't stay innocent for very long, so it took him back to the furthest possible point. "

"But that wouldn't explain why it transformed Cas." Hannah said, "Angels don't age like humans. I mean, there's a period where we develop, but it's only about the length of a human week than we don't age at all."

"Excuse me," Reason interrupted, "Can we back up a minute? Um, did she just say angels?"

"Yeah." Sam replied, "Cas and Hannah are angels. We weren't trying to hide it, but it didn't come up either, so-"

"Okay." Reason replied, "I guess that explained the weird name."

"Really?" Sam said, surprised that she wasn't a little more freaked out, as she was still pretty new to supernatural, " _That's_ your response?"

"My dad was a Baptist preacher," Reason responded, "Angels are little more in my realms of possibility than witches were."

 _"A wiccan preacher's daughter,"_ Sam thought, _"That's a new one."_

"Can we please get back on topic?" Hannah requested.

"Right," Sam said, "Well, he was in his vessel at the time, so maybe when he got in the way it hit that and did what it was supposed to do. As for why it made him so young or why he was having wings we can see now, I don't know. Maybe that's just what happened when the spell adjusted itself for a different species."

"Um, guys," Reason spoke up, "Maybe we could finish this up somewhere a little warmer? And after we get these guys some clothes?"

"She's right." Hannah agreed, "I don't know about Dean, but Cas is ice cold."

"Okay," Sam said, "I know you didn't want us to see it, but can we take them to your place?"

After wrapping the toddlers in their old clothes Reason lead them down to a small, white metal trailer. She unlocked the door and stepped and saying, "Serena? Serena, it's me, I'm back."

A woman in her early twenties with long brown hair that flowed past her shoulders and crazy eyes dressed in a peach waitress uniform stepped out of a backroom. "How'd it goes? Are Keith and Mr. Chance okay?"

"Yeah, but there were some...developments," Reason answered, "The ushered the group in, "S. J., this is Sam, Hannah, Dean and Castiel. Guys, this is Serena Joy."

"Oh, they already know," Serena Joy said, "At least the big guy does. F.B.I agent, hun?"

Reason gave Sam a questioning look than turned her attention back to Serena Joy. "Where's Maudie?"

"Fed her launch, then put her down for a nap." Serena Joy answered, then eyeing their guest added, "Looks like these little guys could use a good meal, too."

Reason gave the boys two of her t-shirts to wear, even cutting a pair of wings holes to accommodate Castiel, then Serena Joy sat them down with meal of dinner leftovers, while the grown-ups stood over a long beanth, looking over spell books trying to figure a way to reverse the spell.

"This one looks like a reversal for a de-aging spell," Reason said, "But if it's the _wrong_ de-aging spell their hair will fall out."

"That beats this one," Sam said, "If it's the wrong spell their hearts could stop."

"Why are all these spells so lethal?" Serena Joy asked, "And why are you doing this if it's so dangerous?"

"I'm starting to wonder that myself." Reason replied, "So anyone got any other ideas?"

Sam was silent for a moment, then said, "Yeah, actually I do. "

When Sam didn't go into any more detail, Serena Joy said, "Well, spit it out man."

"Maybe we shouldn't try to fix it at all." Sam elaborated, "I mean, Reason said it herself, the Mark's gone, and for all we know this might help Cas with his problem, too. Maybe this is their chance for a fresh start. Dean had a horrible childhood, and from what Hannah said, Cas didn't even have one...I could just raise them."

"If you want to do that with your brother, fine," Hannah said, "But maybe I should take Cas back to Heaven, maybe we can figure this out."

"Great, now I'm gonna have God mad at me. "Reason groaned.

Hannah and Sam exchanged glances. "Do you wanna tell her, or should I?" Sam whispered, then said at a regular volume, "Even if you can find something, who knows how long this could take, and in the meantime, what are you going to do with him? Do you have even the first idea of how to care for a child?"

Before Hannah could answer she felt someone tugging on her pants leg. She looked down to see Dean looking up at her with an inquisitive look. "What is it...little one?"

"If you's Cashtul's mommy and Cashtul's my bwother, are you my mommy, too?" Dean asked.

"Who told you I was Cash-Cas' mother?" Hannah asked.

Dean pointed back to where Cas was still munching on the re-heated fries. He looked a little nervous when he realized he was being watched, grabbing onto the sleeve of his coat.

Hannah looked to Sam, no clue what to say. He shrugged, as if to say, _it's your decision, I can't make it for you._ Finally deciding she didn't have the heart to tell him he was an orphan, especially after apparently claiming Castiel, she said, "Yes. I'm your mommy."

In response, Dean lunged at her, hugging her legs.

"What are you doing?" She looked around for help, "What is he doing?"

"It's called a hug, Momma." Serena Joy said with an amused grin.

Dean hugged her leg tighter and then Cas got up and toddled over to them, joining the embrace as best he could. Hannah felt something inside her squeeze as a pleasing warm feeling filled her.

"I take it this means you're staying?" Sam asked.

Hannah smiled slightly. "And who are you going to be in all this?"

Now it was Sam's turned to be silent. He hadn't really thought that far ahead.

"Are you our daddy?" Cas asked, looking at Sam expectantly.

Figuring that since Hannah had already started the deception option, they might as well go with it. "Yeah. I'm your daddy."

Everyone realized that if they were going to do this, they were going to need a lot of things. Clothes that were actually meant for children their age, pajamas, Sippy cups, pull ups, two car seats and a few toys. Reason took Sam her favorite spots to find deals while Serena Joy and Hannah stayed with the kids.

"Hey," Reason said, as they looked through the racks at the local _Teen Challenge,_ "I think I got an idea how you can hide Cas' little...nonconformity."

Sam perked up. "How?" He had been wondering how they were going to do that. They couldn't keep him locked up in the bunker forever, but the wings were going to draw attention.

She held up a gray t-shirt and a blue and purple over shirt holding one over the other. "Just cut a hole in the tee for the wings, he has room, but no one will be the wiser."

Sam grinned taking the clothes from her. "These are perfect." He put them in the cart and walked down the aisle. "Thanks for doing this by the way. You know, helping us with this."

"Well, I kinda owe you," Reason replied, "I _did_ turn your brother and your friend into toddlers and got yourself into this mess in the first place."

"It's not all your fault," Sam replied, "We jumped the gun using that spell. We should have looked into this more and knew exactly what it did."

They walked in silence for a moment than reason said, "So you're really doing this? Just letting them stay kids and see what happens? "

"You know, I wasn't sure at first," Sam admitted, "But I really think this is the right thing to do now. Dean's had it pretty crappy, so has Cas, and there's no signs of it getting any better. Maybe-I don't know-maybe a do-over is just what they need, you know what I mean?"

"Actually, I do." Reason replied, "What about you? No do-over for Sam?"

"Someone need to be the adult to take care of everyone." Sam replied.

As far as Sam was concerned he didn't need one, not as long as he could help brother and their friend with theirs. Because if anyone deserved a second chance it was those two.


	5. Thunderstorms

"Alright," Sam said, parking beside the bunker entrance, "We're here." He turned to Hannah and requested, "Start getting the kids while I get the door?"

"Sure," Hannah said, stepping out of the Impala. Cas' car was staying at Reason's until Hannah could bring it up. She was _not_ going to be dependent on Sam Winchester for rides for the next eighteen years.

The angel opened the back door where the both children had been securely buckled in their car seats, which were both sat in the middle of the seat. They were just big enough to be put in the forward-facing position. Both of them were sleeping like rocks. Hannah unstrapped Dean then picked him up very carefully, as not to wake him. She briefly moved her hand towards the bear he had been playing with on the way over, but pulled it back, as they could come back for things like that. She was going over to get Cas when Sam came back, opening that door. He unstrapped Castiel and picked him up, managing to get the trench coat that the tyke was still clinging to, not wanting a repeat of earlier.

They were packing up to leave and decided to discard the clothes Dean and Cas had come there in because they couldn't exactly wear them anymore. It was going good until Sam tried to take Cas' coat. The little guy wrapped his tiny fists around the sleeve and tried to pull it back, screaming ''no'' at the top of his lung, tears streaming down his face. It got so loud he actually broke a window, which point Sam decided to let him have it. Probably not a good precedent to set, but it was better than replacing all Reason's breakables.

As Sam thumbed to shut the door, Hannah offered, "Let me take him."

"Thanks," Sam said, handing the toddler off to her, then shutting the door. As he ushered her inside he continued, "The decor in Dean's room isn't exactly child safe, so I figure, just put them in one of the spare rooms for now, until I can do some redecorating."

"Sure," Hannah replied, looking around the main area of the bunker, "Just show me where they're at." This was her first time actually entering the bunker. During that whole fiasco with demon Dean she had just stayed in the car. She had never actually seen the inside of the place. Now that she had, she had to admit, she was impressed.

Sam lead her down into a hall lined with rooms. He walked into one, turning on and saying, "Here seems good." Hannah fallowed him into the room and found nothing but a plane bed in the center of it. He pulled back the cover and gestured with his hand to bring the boys over. She walked over to the bed and gently placed both boys down on the uncovered spot. As she pulled the cover back on them Dean's eyes slowly opened a little. "Daddy?" He asked, his voice ladened with sleep, "Mommy?"

"Hey, buddy," Sam said, fiddling with Dean's hair, "Sorry, we didn't me to wake you up."

"Were we at?" Dean asked, a little more alert.

"Home." Sam answered in a hush tone, "You fell asleep on the way here." Seeing Dean was struggling to keep his eyes open, he added, "It's okay, little man, you can go back to sleep if you want."

"Okay Daddy." Dean replied, closing in his and scotching a little closer to Cas. In response, the minicure angel rolled over and stretched his wings, covering them both.

Sam smiled resisting the urge to let out an audible, "aw".

"I think we need to invest in some smaller beds," Hannah spoke up, "This is more room than they need. And it's too high up. They could get hurt trying to get out of it."

Examining the bed for a minute, Sam said, "I'll add it to the to-do list. Until then, wanna help me unload the car?"

"Sure." Hannah said, but then for some reason when she tried to move her feet, "Actually, could we stay here a few more minutes? Just until we're sure they're asleep?"

Sam understood. He wasn't ready to go either. "Sure."

An hour later they had managed to tear themselves from the kids, get the stuff and get in just before it started raining. Sam had gone to his room, which was across the room they placed the boys, while Hannah stayed in the spare rooms next to them, sitting on the edge of the bed, listening to the rain hit the roof, and the thunder when it rolled in. She got up several times to check on the boys, but they were fast asleep. The fact that she couldn't sleep gave her a lot of time of the think. Not so much thinking, so much statements made by several other people ringing out in her head. _"I'm just trying to say this mission is everything. Then you carry on. Do you even have the first idea to raise a child?"_ She should get back on the road, round up the rouges herself, and leave Sam to this. At the very least she should tell Heaven about the recent developments. Then it occurred that, that was probably the stupidest idea anyone had ever had, because there were very few angels in the Dean Winchester fan club, and some of them were still not very fond of Castiel and would take advantage of this opportunity to kill either one or both of them, and God forbid if other species found out about this...

Her thoughts were interrupted by another roar of thunder followed by a _thump_ and gasp from the boy's room. She leapt up and ran to room and found Dean sitting on the ground, still half-dazed with sleep. Castiel leaned over the side of the bed, staring at him like he was trying to figure out what just happened. Both were wearing anxious expressions, and they flinch at the next flash of light and roar of thunder. It took a few seconds for Hannah to process it, then finally she guessed what was happening.

"Did the storm wake you two up?" She asked and the pair nodded, giving her uncertain looks.

"It was loud," Dean explained, "And I think it scared Coat, 'because he wants to come see you."

Now Hannah was confused. "Coat?"

Cas raised the arm of his coat in way of explanation.

 _"That doesn't make any more sense."_ Hannah thought. "Then why were you bringing him?"

"He need help 'cause he don't got legs." Cas explained.

Just a then a voice behind Hannah asked, "Everything okay in here?"

Hannah whirled around and saw Sam standing in the doorway, dressed in jeans and a gray t-shirt. His hair was mused and he still looked half asleep.

"Apparently Cas' coat got scared of the storm and they were taking it to see me." Hannah said, wearing a look of, _please, explain to me what is going on here._

Sam walked up to the bed, scooped Dean up, and sat down on the edge. Dean nestled his head under Sam's chin, one small hand resting against' Sam's heart as if trying to count the beats. Sam gestured with his head over to Cas, and Hannah sat down on the bed, putting him on her lap. As the pair adjusted themselves, there was another flash of lighting, causing Dean to flinch and Cas to jump a little.

"Can we sweep wif you?" Dean asked, burying further into Sam.

Sam and Hannah looked at each other and then Sam nodded. It took a few minutes, but eventually they arranged Cas, Dean, and Coat in the middle, Sam on the right and Hannah on the left. "Good night, guys." Sam said, rubbing small circles on Dean's back.

"Good night, Daddy and Mommy." Dean mumbled, curling up beside Sam.

Cas barely managed a "G'night," before sleep claimed them again.

The next day bright the task of disarming Dean's bedroom. After getting some breakfast in the boys, they plopped them in front of cartoons, going back to check on them every once and a while, they could get their job done. Again, probably not the best precedent, but they didn't have a lot of resources available to them.

"Maybe we should just keep them in the room from last night," Hannah suggesting, pulling a gun out from under the mattress.

"Even if we do that, we still have get these somewhere they can't find them," Sam replied, removing the bullets from a gun they had taken off the wall, "Same with the weapons in my room. Also, we need to figure out something to do with the magic stuff, put the safety caps on the sockets, lock up all the dangerous areas, in case they go exploring...you know what, now that I think about it, maybe we should have left them with Reason, or our friend Jody for a couple of days, at least until we got the bunker toddler proofed."

At that moment Hannah was distracted by a picture on light stand on the desk. It was of Dean, a little older than he was now, and a young blonde woman. She carefully picked it up. "Sam," She asked, "Who is this?"

Sam stopped what he was doing and turned around to see who she was taking about.

"The woman," She elaborated, holding the picture out for him to see, "Who is she?"

"Our mom." Sam answered.

Hannah looked down at the picture then looked at the spot of importance where it had sat, and then back to the picture again. "She meant a lot to him, didn't she?"

"Yeah," Sam said, not sure where this was going.

"And she-she was a good mother?" Hannah asked, rubbing the picture's edge with her thumb.

Now Sam was starting to understand what this is all about. "Look Hannah," He began, walking over to her, "You're doing fine. You're gonna be great with them."

"Sam, last night, they were scared and I couldn't even figure that out," Hannah argued, "And you knew to comfort them and I didn't."

"But you were the one that got to them first," Sam countered, "And you caught on fast enough. And hey, you were the one who actually said the bed was too high up, didn't you?"

Hannah nodded. "I did."

"Look, no first-time parent knows what they're doing, not exactly anyway." Sam assured her, "Between you and me, I'm scared as Hell, too, that I'm gonna mess this up, but we'll just do the best we can, we hope they turn out good. I mean, I don't know about you, but if no one makes a demon deal this time around I think we'll have succeeded. And if you really feel you need help I have some contacts who might be able to give you a few pointers, and there's a single mom not too far from here, that still feels _really_ bad about putting us in this situation. And if you really need someone to talk to you can always come to me, I'll even do my damnest to remember your name."

Suddenly Hannah felt as if someone had just helped her with a heavy weight she didn't realize she had been carrying. "Thank you," She said sincerely. Then she handed him the picture, adding, "You should probably put this somewhere safe, he might-want it one day, if we ever tell them the truth, and even if we don't-you might want it."

"I'll be sure to do that." Sam replied.

Just then the moment was interrupted by a crash from the room they had left the children in.

"We should go see what that is." Hannah said.

"Yeah," Sam agreed, as they hurried out of the room to find out what was going on.


	6. If Tomorrow Never Comes

It had been a week since the incident, and things were starting to get in order. The bunker was as toddler proof as any place could be, and now each boy had their own, much smaller, bed. Also, Hannah had reclaimed the Lincoln Continental from Reason who was glad to see the back of it.

It was weird at first, their brothers who had been grown men a few days before suddenly becoming toddlers who referred to them as parents, but the weirdness was starting to wear off. Sometimes it took Sam few seconds to respond when he was called 'Daddy' but his response time was getting better.

Now, Sam had to think about the strange little family's future. Namely what would happen to the "twins" if for some reason he and Hannah weren't around anymore.

He walked into the boys' room where they had finally gone down for their nap. Hannah was standing over them, just watching them sleep. It was habit she had developed since that first night. Sam said he wasn't sure about her constantly doing it, but it was so hard to tear herself away, they were just so precious when they were asleep, and so venerable. She wanted to be there to protect them. And the fact that she didn't sleep didn't help matters.

"They asleep?" Sam asked.

"Like rocks," Hannah replied, "A saying I still don't understand."

"While they're down, can I talk to you about something?" Sam asked.

"Where is it?" Hannah responded.

"Where's what?" Sam asked confusedly.

"Whatever case you found." Hannah elaborated, "I'm not stupid, Sam. You've been on your lab top all morning. We knew you were going to hunt again eventually, I wasn't expecting you to so soon, but-"

"I wasn't looking for case," Sam cut her off, "But hunting does have to do little with what I wanted to talk to you about."

They took the conversation into the kitchen, where began been explaining what he had been doing on his computer. "I was looking a life insurance policies." He explained, sitting down with a cup of coffee. Somehow doing this with a couple of lukewarm beverages in front of them made it a little easier.

"Life insurance?" Hannah asked, with a questioning look.

Remembering who he was talking to, Sam elaborated, "It's something people get that give their family a certain amount of money if they die, usually enough to pay for the funeral, and take care of themselves until they sort things out. I was looking to take one out on myself, so that if I was to-you know, die on a hunt, you could still look after Cas and Dean. "

"Oh." Hannah said, "I see."

"But the thing is," Sam continued, "Most of them have conditions. They usually won't pay out if the owner committed suicide, and they hold it if they die suspiciously. Which all things considered, would probably be how my death would look if there was even a body. And course, there's the whole issue of me being legally a dead serial killer...but you let me worry about that. In addition to that, I'm been thinking about what would happen if something was to happen to both of us. Like, before they're old enough to take care of themselves. I mean, you're a bit more-sturdy than I am, but just in case we should have a plan."

"And what plan did you come up with?" Hannah asked, circling the brim of the cup with her finger, trying to pretend the possibly of the boys alone in the world completely helpless didn't suddenly terrify her.

"I made a list," Sam said pulling out a small piece of paper and slide it across the table, "Of people who might be willing to be the kids Godparents, that's people who will take care of the kids if the parents die, usually a relative or close friend, somebody the parents trust."

"I'm assuming that's not a long list," Hannah said, taking the list. She was right. There were only two names on the list: _1\. Jody Mills 2. Reason McCarthy 3. Garth and Bess Fitzgerald_

"Why is Reason on the list?" She asked, "I mean, she seems nice enough, and capable enough, but we barely know her."

"Because otherwise it would be a list of two people," Sam replied, "Everyone I would trust to take them is dead except for one's that's fighting a revolution in a fairy world."

Hannah shot him a questioning look.

"Long story," Sam said, "So, do you have anyone you wanna add? "

"No," Hannah replied, "Like you said, angels aren't exactly the best caregivers."

"I don't think I said it exactly like that," Sam said, "But I see your point."

"What about the third name on the list?" Hannah asked, looking at it again, "The couple? How do you know them?"

"Garth was hunter," Sam answered, "But he's retired now. Bess is his wife. He might not be my first choice because he is a little goofy, and we weren't that close, but he's a good guy overall, so is she, except, you know, a girl. And he's surprisingly good with kids."

"And what does he do now?" Hannah asked.

"Ah, I'm not sure actually," Sam admitted, "I didn't think to ask about that last time I saw him, because we were a little preoccupied with..." Sam's voice trailed off as he realized that would _not_ help Garth's case.

"Preoccupied with what?" Hannah asked, suspiciously.

"The reason Garth retired was he got bit by a werewolf," Sam said finally, "And Bess is also werewolf. Her whole family is. I mean, they're nice werewolves, never actually killed anyone, well a few of them tried, but, those guys are gone now, and I'm not helping his case, am I?"

In response Hannah said, "Give me your pen."

Sam took it out of his pocket and tenitively handed to her. She took and briskly crossed out Garth's name. "What about this woman, Jody Mills? You mentioned her before. Is she another hunter?"

"No, she's a cop," Sam replied, "Sheriff actually. She was involved on a couple of cases, and she was a friend of another friend of ours who died a couple of years ago, so we kept in touch. She's got another kid right now, so I don't know, if she'll want to do it though."

"It couldn't hurt to ask," Hannah said, "So far she's my favorite of the three candidates. Steady respectable job, prior experience with children, least likely to get mauled to death by something awful, she's just about perfect."

"Alright," Sam said, "I'll make the call."

Sam didn't know how to begin to explain what was going in, so he told her that he had situation that was hard to explain over the phone and asked if she could come over.

"So, this is your inner sanctum," Jody said, upon seeing the inside of the bunker for the first time, "Gotta admit, it's a nice set-up. So, what's so secretive you couldn't tell me on the phone?"

"It's not so much secretive as, well...complicated." Sam responded.

"What does that mean?" Jodie asked.

"It's be easier if I just show you," Sam said, "Hannah! Will you bring the boys in here, please?!"

Hannah walked in with Dean in arms and Cas clinging to her hip.

"Jody, this is Dean," Sam said gesturing to the little boy in Hannah's arms, "And this is his brother, Cas. Guys, this is a friend of Daddy's, Jody Mills."

"Hi," Dean said, waving at the police officer. Cas, their shy child, responded by hiding behind Hannah's leg.

"Oh," Jody said, "That kind of complicated."

"So, let me get this straight," Jody said, as the three adults shat at the kitchen table, "A witch cast a spell on Dean to remove the Mark, only it was actually a de-aging spell, and Castiel, your angel friend who no one had thought to tell me about until just now-"

"It never really came up," Sam replied, "And we did mention angels to you once."

"But you didn't tell me you knew one of 'em." Jody replied, "Anyway, he gets in the way and they both get turned into two-year-olds, and you decide to not try to fix it, to raise them as your children with the help of a female angel you barely know?"

"That's pretty much it, yes." Hannah responded.

"And what do I have to do with any of this?" Jody asked.

"Well, we have been thinking about would happen to them if one or both of us were to die," Sam explained.

"That actually makes sense," Jody replied, taking a small sip of her coffee, "But I though angels were nigh invulnerable."

"Emphasis on the word nigh," Hannah explained, "One lucky strike with an angel blade and the boys are orphans. Again."

"Which brings us to what we wanted to ask you," Sam said, "We were actually hopping that you would be the boys Godmother."

Jody blinked a few times then repeated, "Godmother?"

"It means-" Hannah began.

"She knows what it means." Sam cut her off, "Look, Jody, I know it's a lot to ask, especially since you already have Alex and we'll understand if you say-"

"Of course." Jody interjected.

"What?" Sam replied.

"Sam, what you two are trying to do may be a-a little weird," Jody began, "But I understand why. And they're just kids, I'm not gonna let them fend for themselves in the street. My point is if, God forbid, both you and Hannah die, the boys can count on me."

"Well, we cross that off the list," Sam said, after Jodie had gone to bed.

"And the life insurance?" Hannah asked, "Did you ever figure that out?"

"I found one that pays out no matter how I die," Sam answered, "But there's still the issue of I.D."

"You have over two dozen fake I.D.s." Hannah pointed out, "Can't you just use one of them?"

"They dig a little deeper than that," Sam explained, "To get past them I'll need a whole fake _life._ And again, the one person I know who might be able to do that is in Oz."

Hannah sat their a for a moment in thought, then an idea hit her. "Didn't Reason say her second job involved less-than-legal things?"

"Yeah, something about almost contraband," Sam replied, "Whatever that means."

"Maybe they have something we could help us out?" Hannah suggested,

Sam laughed out loud, but when Hannah didn't even crack a smile, he asked, "You're serious?'

"We don't have any other ideas." Hannah reasoned, "And you said it yourself, Reason feels bad enough that she'll do practically anything we ask of her."

"I don't think that includes introducing us to possibly dangerous criminals!" Sam exclaimed, "And I'd rather not have to use our arrangement with Jody just yet."

"He won't be able to kill me," Hannah replied, "I'll take care of them."

"Oh, that's very reassuring," Sam said, in a tone even Hannah realized was sarcastic, "Alright, I guess it couldn't hut to ask her." Though, Sam really didn't want to. At all.


	7. Risky Business (For Everyone Involved)

"You want me to do WHAT?" Reason exclaimed, causing the three children playing on the floor to look of momentarily.

They were in Reason's trailer, the adults in the kitchen, the children in the oddly spacious living room like area.

The two groups stared at each other for a moment, then went back to their business. Reason turned back to the hunter and angel in front of her and continued in a hiss whisper, "Okay, I get what you're trying to do, but why on Earth would you think Rawls and I would be able to help you?"

"Well, didn't." Sam replied, "But we were hoping that maybe you could. What do you do for him anyway?"

"I'm basically a stock girl," Reason answered, "Rawls deal selling things that fell off of a truck, if you know what I mean."

"No," Hannah said, "No I don't."

"She means they were acquired by questionable means," Sam explained, "Do we even want to know what kind of stuff?"

"A little bit of everything." Reason answered, "Last week, it was steak, this week its exploitation films, which, would you mind buying a couple? We can't get rid of them for the life of us."

"We'll think about it," Sam replied, not actually intending to take her up on the offer.

"Look, I can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do," Reason conceded, "You guys wanna stay for dinner? Rawls gave me the steak we couldn't sale."

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks, debating whether or not to stay before Sam said, "Yeah, that'd be great."

Two days later the pair nervously walked into Reason's other workplace, a dinner called _The Hot Spot._ They had been told to go to Serena Joy's section and look for someone in a long-sleeve red shirt. The only problem is they had no clue were Serena Joy's section was. Sam had only been in there once before and hadn't exactly been paying attention to that.

Just then they spotted Serena Joy, who waved at them as she sat down the last of four plates and beckoned them to come to her.

"Hey guys," The waitress whispered, "Reason gave me the broad strokes of what's going on. Probably a smart move, life insurance. I mean, I'm hardly an expert on this paranormal thing, but I would assume there's a good likelihood of getting killed. Anywhere, Rawls is this way."

"You know Rawls, too?" Hannah asked, as they were lead down the aisle.

"He's kind of my boyfriend." Serena Joy said, a hint of pride in her voice.

Hannah and Sam exchanged looks before the hunter said, "I thought Keith was your boyfriend."

"We dated a couple of years ago," Serena Joy explained," Then we broke up. We managed to stay friends but every now and then he forgets why we imploded and tries to get back together." After a few seconds, she added, "By the way, I would appreciate it if you didn't mention what I told you to the others. They don't exactly know about me and Rawls yet."

"Don't worry," Sam replied, "We will not be telling anyone about any of this."

They stopped at booth in the back corner where a man in his early thirties was finishing a piece of cake. The pair was surprised by how normal he looked. He actually kind of handsome, about as tall as Dean had been before the de-aging, slightly tan with short thick black hair. He was wearing the promised red shirt and blue jeans.

"You must be Sam," He said in an almost friendly tone, "Come on, sit down."

Sam slid in the booth fallowed by Hannah.

"I'll have to admit, I had by misgiving about this, especially after I looked into you." Rawls said, "But Reason assured me all that stuff in your past with the-"His voice lowered a bit when he said, "The bank robbery, the murders, the stuff with the graves, and the weeklong Vegas marriage, that those were all some kind of misunderstanding."

"They were, actually, " Sam said nervously, "And I didn't actually do any of the murders."

"But you admit to the robberies and grave desecrations?" Rawls asked, his eyebrow slightly raised.

"Well, those weren't my intentions but...in the process graves were desecrated and banks were held up." Sam conceded.

"I appreciate your honestly," Rawls said, "Now, Reason was rather vague about your reasons for wanting fake documentation, so can you give me more detail?"

"Actually, I'm trying to take out a life insurance policy on myself," Sam explained, "You see, me and Hannah here have recently... became the guardians of twins, and I ...want to make sure they're provided for if I die."

"Someone gave _you_ kids?" Rawls questioned.

"Yes," Sam insisted.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Hannah spoke up. She understood why _she_ had been skeptical about it, but there was no way Rawls to know what she knew. (And she was ignorant of the Winchesters issues with law enforcement, save for the brief overview Sam had told her.)

"Who are you again?" Rawls asked.

"Hannah," She replied, "I'm taking care of the twins, as well. Look, I understand why you have reservations, I did, too, but-in spite of his reputation, this man next to me is a good man, and a good father to the children in his charge, I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else."

Rawls pause for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll see what I can do. I know a few people I can reach out too, and if I can get them to work together without tearing each other faces off we might be able to do this. I'll have Reason let you know when it's done, then we can discuss payment."

As the pair left the dinner Sam whispered into Hannah's ear, "I didn't know you could lie like that."

"Lie?" Hannah asked, genuinely not knowing what he was talking about.

"He's a good man and a good father," Sam replied, "I almost believed you for a minute."

Now on the parking lot, Hannah turned around to face him. "Those weren't lies," She told him firmly, "I meant every word of it."

"Hannah, are you smelling toast, or tasting pennies right now?" Sam asked wondering if angels could have a stroke.

"Are you trying to change the subject?" Hannah asked.

"No," Sam replied, "But last time I checked I wasn't exactly was of one of your favorite people."

Hannah paused for a second then asked, "It was that obvious?"

"A little." Sam confirmed.

"Well, that's even more proof of my statement," Hannah reasoned, "You didn't have to let me stay, but you did. And the way you are with the boys-you really are a good father. What I'm trying to say is-I was wrong about you." Having said her peace, she headed towards the car.

Sam just stood there a moment, processing what he had just heard, then hurried to catch up with her.

A week pasted and then Reason finally called.

"He's got it all ready," She told Sam, "He thinks five hundred is a fair price."

"Yeah, me too," He agreed, "I'll get the money together. Meet at the dinner again?"

"No," Reason said quickly, "I was furious when I found out you did that first time. He's lucky I didn't tell Edith. You're meeting him in the usual place this time."

"Why didn't he meet us at this usual place that last time?" Sam asked.

"I think after looking into you he was kinda afraid," Reason admitted, "You're a little above his pay-grade. Actually, when he showed me what he found, _I_ was a little afraid of you."

"Don't be," Sam assured her, "The murders weren't actually Dean and me, they were shape shifters. The robbery and grave desecrations were hunting related. Now, where are we meeting?"

The next Hannah walked into a back-alley way, where there was gray mini-van waiting for them. Standing by the van were Rawls and Reason.

"Didn't know you were gonna be here." Sam commented.

"It was the only way he would meet you in the alley," Reason explained, "He's _that_ scared of you."

"Okay," Was all Sam could think to come back with, "So you, have it?"

"You have the money?" Rawls asked.

Sam handed them the cash in a nondescript white envelope, and he passed a minillia folder to Sam. As Sam looked through it, he frowned. "It says my name is still Samuel Winchester."

"Yes, but your middle name is no longer William," Rawls replied, "It's Isaac. And I gave you whole new back story. And most of the pictures of old you have convently been lost. Not all of them, mind you, but the chance of anyone being able to compare photos is greatly lessened, so if anyone fines any of old you's files, they'll think it's just a coincidence."

"Okay," Sam said, "Ah, thank you."

"Thank me if it works," Rawls replied, thinking to himself, _"And don't murder me if it doesn't."_

Over the next few days, Sam looked for policies. Finally finding one he thought would work, he went in for the physical, passed it with flying colors, and went about the business of filling out paper work.

"It's official," Sam said, signing the last documents, "I am worth more dead than alive."

"How much did you take out?" Hannah asked, sitting down beside him.

"I thought five thousand should cover it," Sam replied, absentmindedly arranging the paperwork.

"Five thousand-" Hannah began in disbelief, "Sam, even _I_ know that's excessive."

"Well, hunting doesn't pay that well, " Sam argued, "And neither does managing Heaven's affairs. I know it's probably too much, but I just want to be sure."

"Okay, " Hannah said, though she still wasn't sure about it, "So are you ever gonna start back hunting again?"

"Probably," Sam said, "But I promise, I'll do my best not to need this."


	8. Must Have Been Angels

**AN: Okay, three things**

 **Someone asked a good question a few weeks ago, so I'm going to answer it: A lot of things are going to happen in this fic. Dean and Cas turning back into adults is not one of them.**

 **I meant to say the life insurance was five hundred thousand, not five thousand.**

 **I'm going to be out of town for a few weeks and I don't know if I'll be able to update from where I'll be. When I get back I'll pick up right where we left off.**

As it turned out, it was Hannah that went back to work first.

It had all started when she was playing with the kids. Well, playing with Dean. The pair were rolling a rubber ball back and forth. Cas was a few feet away, playing with some blocks. When they first started doing this, playing separate games in the same room, she had been concerned at first, but both Sam and Reason assured her it was normal. There was an even a name for it, Parallel Play. She was still concerned by the fact that Castiel still insisted on carrying that trench coat around everywhere. Sam told her that was normally, too, that children that age sometimes had security blankets, and for some reason, that was still Cas'. Still, it raised some concerns for her.

Suddenly Sam called from the other room, "Hannah! Can you come in here for a minute?!"

She didn't like the way he sounded. "Honey, can you play by yourself for a minute?"

Dean toddled over to Hannah and grabbed at her torso moaning, "Don't go."

"Baby," Hannah soothed, stroking his hair, "I just need to see Daddy for a minute."

"I go wif you," Dean insisted.

Hannah smiled indulgently, picking him up, "Okay baby. You can come with me."

Realizing he was being left alone Cas let out an unhappy wine. Turning to look at him Hannah, said, "You can come, too."

Satisfied, the toddler happily fallowed after them, the trench coat trailing behind him.

When they entered the main room, Sam looking at something on his computer. "You brought the kids with you?"

"They didn't want me to leave," Hannah explained, "This was the compromise. Why?"

"Nothing," Sam replied quickly, "I guess, this is okay viewing for children. A bit scary though."

"I have an idea." Hannah said.

And so, after hiding the kids under Coat, Sam hit play on the video. It was of a car crash in which a red station wagon had flipped over, trapping a little girl inside. Out of nowhere a young blonde woman who looked like she was a hundred pounds soaking wet at the most, dressed in a t-shirt tank top and blue skirt, ran up to the car, and put her hands under it. Hannah almost missed her until she flipped the car then removing one hand to rip off the girl's seat belt and snatch her from the car. The girl herself was battered and bloody. Taking her in her arms the woman took her behind the car and when they appeared again there wasn't a scratch on her. By this point the crowd had gone completely silent in amazement. Suddenly realizing that everyone was staring at her, the strong girl froze, looking almost scared. Suddenly a voice called out something the hunter and angel couldn't make out, as the sound on the video wasn't all that great. A few seconds later two boys rushed towards the girl, one of them clearly the source of the shouting. He grabbed onto her, still shouting, but the other man pulled him off her, trying to placate his companion. The three ran off several people chasing after them.

"That's where this one ends," Sam said, "But there are a couple more that might show what happened after that. So, what do you think? Are they yours?"

"My what?" Hannah asked.

"Are they angels?" Sam elaborated patiently.

"The girl yes," Hannah replied, "But the men she's with appear to be human. Can I see the other videos?"

One with better sound showed that the man who had grabbed her had been yelling at her for potentially exposing herself, and the other man had been trying to calm him down, and suggested they leave. Another video taken by someone who had chased after them caught them escaping in a green wood paneled Sedan.

"Where was this shot?" Hannah asked, after viewing the final video.

"Lanercost Missouri," Sam replied, reading the information on one of the videos.

"I'll go find a map," She declared, standing up from where she had set at the table to watch the videos.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sam said quickly, pushing back and standing up, "What do you mean find a map?"

"I know they're gone, but Lanercost is still the best place to start," Hannah explained, as if it was obvious.

Sam gapped a moment, then said, "Hannah, when I showed you this, I meant for you to, I don't know, call someone, not to go out on a two-day old trail into who knows what."

"Sam, I can't just call someone and hand it off to them," Hannah argued, pulling through some old road maps she happened to still have, trying to find Lanercost on one of them.

"Hannah, there are plenty of angels in Heaven, and I'm pretty sure at least some of them are very capable," Sam countered.

"And if I ask any one of them to do it, they're going to ask why I can't," Hannah replied, giving up on her search for Lancercost on a map, "Which could lead to some questions that could prove disastrous for all of us."

"How do you mean?" Sam asked.

Hannah looked down to the mass on the floor. The boys had fallen asleep in the dark of the coat. "I never informed Heaven of recent...events." She began, "I mean, Castiel's mended enough fences that he might be safe, but there a lot of angels who still aren't too fond of Dean, and at least a few who would find the prospect of a helpless Dean Winchester too tempting to pass up. Add that to the fact that while the system's in better shape than it has in a while it still leeks like a sieve...we couldn't protect them, not forever at least. And I'd probably face repercussions for sitting on this for so long."

While Sam thought Hannah was blowing the situation a bit out of proportion, he understood her concern. "Alright, then I'll go with you." He suggested, "We'll get Reason to watch the kids until we get back.

"Missouri is at least a day's drive and then we actually have to track them down," Hannah reasoned, "We've never left them with a sitter that long before. We've never really left them with a sitter _at all._ "

It was true. Since they had both put everything else on hold to get the kids settled, Sam and Hannah were constantly around to supervise them, and therefore there was no need to leave them with anyone else. In fact, the longest they had ever left them alone with anyone else was when they had been dealing with Rawls.

"It'll be fine," Hannah tried to reassure Sam, "At this point these things are almost milk runs."

"I'm not sure you actually know what that mean." Sam replied.

Meanwhile, in a motel a few states over two men, one with a lean build and narrow fox-like gray eyes filled with anger, the other with pale skin and thick, short-cut, but messy dark brown hair, were watching the same videos Sam and Hannah had watched, while a young blonde woman sat on one of the two beds, her head hung down in embarrassment.

"Great," The angry one said, pushing back from the table after the finial video ended, "That's just fan-freaking-tastic!" He walked towards the girl on the bed, turning his rage onto her, "You know an important part of this job, is keeping a low profile, because it's kind of hard to convince someone you're State Police when your face is all over the internet, but you can't even manage to do that you little idiot!"

"I'm sorry," The girl whimpered in fear, moving as far back on the bed, "I didn't know those people had cameras, if I had I would've..."

Her attacker chuckled without warmth. "Of course, you didn't," He said, "Of course you have no clue what video phone is you little freak!" As he said the last thing his arm swung back and his hand was about to make contact with her face, when the other man leapt up and grabbed his wrist. "Eric!" He exclaimed, "Clam down. Look, it's not that big of deal. We just need to lay low for a couple of weeks, then people will forget about it when some moron leaves his kid on the side of the road. If it takes that long, because I don't think this has a lot of coverage. Besides," He clicked on the comment section, "Half the people on here think it's a hoax anyway."

"Yeah, except for They Are Among Us 25 who has correctly guessed this is the work of angels," Eric commented with a look of _you turn_ , on his face.

"Well, with a user name like that, how sane could they actually be?" The other man countered, "Look, just go out for a little bit, calm down, and we'll discuss our next move rationally, all right?"

Eric pursed his lips. "Fine." He conceded. Opening the door, he added, "But don't either of you think this is over!" Then he slammed the door.

The remaining young man turned his attention to their angelic companion, who was visibly shaking. "Are you alright, Ami?"

The angel, Ami, nodded weekly.

The man sat on the end of the bed. "Come here," He encouraged, patting on the spot beside him.

Ami scurried up beside him. After pushing her hair out of her face, he pulled Ami into a side hug as he said, "I'm sorry he blew up on you like that. But don't worry, he'll come around. He always does."

"It's my fault," Ami said, "I shouldn't have run off like that."

"Not, it's not your fault." The man said firmly, "There's still a lot you don't understand. And besides, you saved the girl, which is a good thing. Don't worry, it's all going to be okay." The gently stroked her hair while humming, "Miami, My Amy," by Keith Whitley


	9. When You're On You Own

"And where are they right now?" Hannah asked Sam, who she was on the phone with.

As she was preparing to leave it hit her that she was going to be leaving the boys for not only the first time since they were de-aged, but for a significant amount of time, and that made her very, very nervous. This lead to her making a list for Sam that included everything for the exact amounts of yogurt bites and pull-ups they had to the kids' favored bath time toys. (Sam actually knew most of the stuff on the list, but took it anyway.) As well as any other preparations she felt were necessary, and then finally a tearful farewell with the boys, and reassurances that she would be back soon, and would call them even sooner.

Sooner turned out to be when she got over the state line because she just couldn't take it anymore.

"They're here with me," Sam answered, "After you left I pulled out the Play _Dough,_ and that seems to be keeping them distracted."

"Are you sure that's a good idea after what happened last time?" Hannah replied. The last time they let the boys play with _Play Dough_ Dean decided it would be a good idea to stick several clumps of the stuff into Cas' wings. Washing Cas' wings was never easy because they weren't entirely sure what they were doing yet, but that night had been a particular ordeal for everyone involved. He had bald patches for about a week.

"I told them if that happens again I'll put whoever did in time out," Sam explained.

"Also make sure they don't eat it." Hannah instructed, "They both had problems with that last time."

"Hannah, don't worry." Sam entreated her, "I got everything under control."

"I know," Hannah admitted, "Thanks for putting up with me."

"No problem," Sam replied, "Would putting them on the phone make you feel better?"

"You don't think it would make things worse?" Hannah asked, "For them I mean?"

"No clue," He said, then he called out to boys, "Guys, come here. Mommy wants to talk to you."

The toddlers rushed to Sam as he put the phone on speaker. "Mommy!" They both exclaimed before peppering her with questions.

"How did you get in Daddy's phone?"

"When are coming home?"

"I miss you!"

"I miss you, too!"

"And I miss both of you, too," Hannah replied, "I'll be home as soon as I can. I just need to find someone first. Are you two alright?"

"Yes," They said as at about the same time.

"You two being good for Daddy?" Hannah asked.

"Uh-hun," Cas replied.

"What about you, Dean?" Hannah asked, when she only heard one of the boy's answer.

"I being good, too," Dean answered.

"Good," Hannah replied, "Keep it up. " Seeing she was about to arrive in town, she said, "I have to go now, but I promise, I'll call you at bed time, okay?"

"Okay." Both boys said before she hung up.

Hannah sighed. She hadn't expected it to be this hard.

After a few minutes of searching Hannah found the house where Harper Madison, the little girl who had been in an accident, lived, a spring green colored house with a brown roof. Getting out of the car Hannah went up the walk and knocked on the door, going over the scrip Sam had given in her head. Castiel had always done this part, the cover story, when it was needed. _"Well, Cas isn't here,"_ She mentally scolded herself, _"You're on your own now."_

At that point, the door was opened by a woman with small green eyes and brown hair pulled back into a springy ponytail. "May I help you?" She asked.

"My name is Hannah Smith," She said, "I'm a sight called _Is It Real. Com_ it's sort of like _Snopes._ I'm here about some videos of an accident your daughter was in."

"Oh," Mrs. Madison responded, "Yes, that makes sense."

"I was hopping maybe I could speak with her." Hannah requested. Seeing the woman looked hesitant she added, "You can sit in if it makes your more comfortable."

"It would," The woman said, then she stepped back adding, "Come in."

Hannah crossed the threshold into a neatly kept living room. "Please set down," Mrs. Madison said, gesturing to a floral designed couch, then she called out, "Harper! Could you come here for a minute, please?!"

A few seconds later a girl of about six years with long dark brown hair came running into the room.

"Harper, " Mrs. Madison began, "This is Ms. Smith. She wanted to talk to you about the accident. Is that okay, sweetie?"

The girl nodded and sat down across from Hannah in one of two chairs that matched the couch.

"Hello Harper." Hannah said.

"Hello." Harper said, giving her a small smile.

"What can you tell me about the accident?" Hannah asked.

"I don't remember much about it," Harper admitted, grabbing a stuffed panda bear that had been left on the floor, "I remember Daddy driving me home from school, then I remember the lady."

"That's alright, Harper," Hannah assured, "Can you tell me anything about the lady?"

"She had pretty yellow hair like my friend Tashee," Harper answered, "And she was really nice."

"Did she tell you her name?" Hannah nudged.

"No," Harper said, then thinking a moment, added, "But I heard one of the men call her Ami."

Hannah jotted that down with a question mark by it, as Ami didn't sound like an angel name, she certainly couldn't think of any missing angels named Ami. "And did you notice anything about the men?"

Harper paused for a moment hugging the bear. "One of them was mean," She finally said, "He yelled at Ami and said bad words, called her bad names. But the other man made him stop. He said they needed to get out of there before more people showed up."

"Did you hear their names?" Hannah asked.

Harper thought for a minute then said, "I think the one who stood up to the mean one called him Eric." Looking almost sad she added, "That's all I know. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, honey, you did fine." Hannah assured her and she finished her notes.

"She's been repeating this a lot lately," Mrs. Madison said, "Will that be all?"

"Yes, " Hannah said, standing up, "Thank you for your time."

"So, the people who filmed the actual videos didn't know much," Hannah said to Sam later that evening back in her motel room when she had called to tell the boys goodnight, "So all I have is a name that probably isn't real." After a moment she added, "Do you think...they could have actually renamed her?"

"Or she could have changed it herself to blend in," Sam suggested, "I mean, some of you guys don't exactly have common names. Or it could be short for something. Anyway, you might have a bit more than that."

"What do you mean?" Hannah asked.

"I know you didn't want my help, but I put out some feelers," Sam admitted, "And one of them actually recognized the car, and the guys. Their names are Eric Rydell and Freddy Churwood. They're hunters apparently."

"And did this feeler know anything about Ami?" Hannah asked.

"According to him last time he saw them they had girl with them," Sam replied, "Apparently, she stood behind them and in his words 'never spoke once the whole time,' even when he tried to talk to her. It really stuck with him. I didn't tell him why I was looking for them, but I think if I called him back, he might help us find them."

"At this point I'm willing to take any lead I can get." Hannah admitted.

"Alright," Sam said, "I'll call you back when I know anything."

"Perfect," Hannah replied, "And Sam?"

"Yeah?" Sam asked.

"Thanks for not listening to me." Hannah said.

"Don't mention it," Sam said, before hanging up.

With no leads herself, Hannah was left to just sit in the silence of the motel room. It suddenly accrued to her it was the first she had been completely alone in months. The last month and a half had she spent all her time with the boys and Sam, even if she wasn't in the same room, they were always nearby, and before she had adult Castiel almost always at her side, and even before him when she had been helping to run Heaven she had been constantly collaborating with other angels. So far, she didn't like being alone.

She turned on the TV just for the sound and started flipping through the cannels, trying to find something that wouldn't make her want to lock the boys in the bunker for the remainder of their lives. Sam suggested it would give her something to do at night so she would stop watching the boys sleep, but every show or movie she came across made her want to watch over them with an angel blade in one hand and one of the many guns the adults had access to in the other, with their door locked and barricaded for good measure. Aside from the paranormal dangers she already knew about she now knew that there were people who wanted to kidnap children any number of horrible reasons, assassins with terrible aim, psychotic relatives, and wild animals.

The Australian horror movie she had found about a boy who is kidnapped and tortured by a girl he politely rejected and her father, who has a pencet for lobotomizing people wasn't helping matters. In fact, she was officially adding crazy girls and their way over-indulgent fathers to list of things that would haunt her dreams if she slept.

As the film was reaching its worst part, her phone rang. "Sam?" She said after answering the call.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked, alarmed at the tone of her voice.

"Yeah," Hannah replied, turning off the TV and getting her bearings, "Just probably shouldn't be watching horror movies."

"You wanna talk about it?" Sam asked. He knew about her misadventures in TV land, since it was his idea in the first place. Usually depending on how real the threat was, he could calm her down.

"No, just tell me what you found." Hannah requested.

"It took a little bit, but that guy was able to get a hold of Churwood," Sam began, "They're actually working a case in Jefferson City. It's about a day's drive from where you are."

"Well, I better start now," Hannah said, getting off the bed.

 _"_ I'm not sure you should be driving at night." Sam said, wondering why he kept doing this.

"Sam, I don't need sleep," Hannah argued, gathering her things, "And time of the essence here. If I don't go now, who knows if I'll ever find them again, and the sooner I find them, the sooner I can get back home."

"Okay," Sam said, "Just, be careful, alright? And call me when you get there?"

"I promise." Hannah replied.

By the time Hannah arrived in Jefferson City it was almost noon the next day. She was looking for somewhere to stat while she was there, when she noticed a wood-paneled green car in the lane beside her. She took a moment for a closer look, and to her surprise and mild delight at the unbelievable break, in the front of seat were two brunette males, and a blonde female in the back seat. Waiting for an opportunity, to get over, she switched lanes so that she was behind them. Then realizing they would probably notice if she kept following them, she thumbed for her phone and dialed Sam's number, putting him on speaker.

"Hey, Hannah," Sam said, "Are you there yet?"

"Just got here," Hannah replied, "Hey, how do you tail someone?"

"I think that car is tailing us." Freddy said, peering in the side view mirror.

"What car?" Eric asked from the driver's seat.

"That Lincoln that's behind us," Freddy answered.

Eric looked in his rearview mirror and saw the copper-colored vehicle. "And why would a pimp be tailing us? What, you think he wants to take your girlfriend?"

Ami eyes went to the floor. After a little less than a year, she was use to Eric's comments, still they sometimes made her uncomfortable.

"A, she'd not my girlfriend, and you know it," Freddy shot back, "And B, that car switched lanes to get behind us, and has been behind us for a couple of minutes."

"Which could also mean they needed in this lane?" Eric replied, "Look, I'll keep an eye on it, and if it keeps following us, we'll do some defensive maneuvers."

Fortunately, Sam was able to give Hannah a good enough tutorial over the phone, that after a few minutes both Eric and Freddy shrugged it off, and she was able to follow them to the police station.

When they parked the car, all three of them began to get out, when Freddy turned to the angel in the backseat and said, "Ami, maybe you should guard the car this time, okay?"

"Alright, " Ami replied, sitting back down and holding out her hand.

"One second," Freddy said, "I just need to get it from the trunk." He went to the trunk and came back holding an angel blade, handing it to its owner.

"Thank you," Ami replied.

"Don't mention it," Freddy said, "We'll be back in a few minutes." Then he shut the door and the men walked off.

Holding the handle of her blade tight in her hand, Ami looked around the lot for anyone who might try to steal the car or otherwise disturb it. She knew the car probably wasn't in much danger, that Eric probably just didn't want her around to mess things up, but she didn't mind. She was grateful for all they had done for her, in spite of Eric's mean-spiritedness. And besides, it's not like she had anywhere else to go. Her home was a war zone now.

Despite her alertness, she didn't notice a hand from the outside reach out to touch her shoulder.


	10. Tattered Angels

She turned around quickly, ready to attack, only for her attacker, a woman in a gray blazer to grab a hold of her wrist. "It's alright, sister," The woman said, "I didn't come here to hurt you."

They pair just stared at each other. Finally, the woman, a fellow angel Ami realized, spoke again, "My name's Hannah, what's yours?"

"Amenadiel," She replied.

"Amenadiel," Hannah repeated. She now remembered there being an Amenadiel on the list of angels still not accounted for, but since no one had heard anything from her since the fall, it was feared she had died. "Your friends wouldn't happen to call you Ami for short, would they?"

"Freddy, and Eric do," Ami said sheepishly, "The humans who own this car. Amenadiel's too much of a mouthful."

Something told Hannah that they were the ones who thought it was too much of a mouthful. "Ami," Hannah began, "Can we talk? Outside?"

Ami looked around nervously. "They won't like it if I leave the car. Freddy worries and Eric, Eric will just get mad if I run off. "

"Okay, then," Hannah replied, "What if I got in with you? Would that be alright?"

"Eric doesn't like people messing with his things," Ami informed her.

 _Does Eric like anything?_ Hannah thought, trying to understand the hold these men had on Ami.

"But I think the car actually belongs to Freddy," Ami said, unlocking the back door with her mind.

Hannah slide over in the seat beside Ami, and tried to think of a way to begin. She knew this was going to be different from the other angels she and Cas had rounded up. Aside from what she had witness on the video, which was not lost on her, she had saw the business with the angel blade. At last she asked, "Are you aware that Heaven has been open to angels again for months now?"

Ami was quiet for a minute. "Yes."

"Then why haven't you come back?" Hannah asked, "Is it because Freddy and Eric won't let you?"

"I haven't actually brought it up to them," Ami admittedly, "But what reason do I have to go back? We just moved the chaos back upstairs, that's all. I mean, you haven't gone back either, otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

Hannah was silent for a moment, processing what she just heard. "Actually, I have." She said finally, "And it's not chaos anymore. We've pulled ourselves together, we're governing ourselves, we've even know who's not there. It's why I'm here actually."

"You're here to try to take me back, aren't you?" Ami asked.

Hannah nodded. "I can understand why you're afraid, but-" Her voice trailed off, as she noticed a faded bruise on Ami's elbow and another sticking out from underneath her shirt, "Ami," She asked, "What are those that?"

Ami glanced down. "Sometimes Eric gets mad," She said softly, "Really mad. Usually Freddy's there to stop him, but sometimes..." She looked up again, and her eyes widened. "You need to leave," Ami said, "Now. They're coming back."

Hannah turned her head and saw Freddy and Eric, dressed in suits, heading back to the car.

"Get out before they see you," Ami insisted, "They're hunters, they don't trust creatures like us. Eric barely trusts me."

Not wanting to get in a confrontation with the hunters at the moment, and even more concerned for Ami's safety than she had before their talk Hannah turned herself invisible and slip out of the car before they got close enough to notice her. However, she stayed close to watch what happened next.

When the hunter got to the car, one with thicker hair leaned into the open window. "Everything okay while we were gone?"

"Yes," Ami said, handing him back her blade, "No one bothered the car."

The other one with an almost shaved head laughed with very little if any warmth. "Good thing you're here to take care of it," He mocked, getting into the passenger, "I don't know what ever did without you."

The one who had took the angel blade sot him an almost venomous look. "Don't listen to him," He told Ami, "You're a treasure." Then he got into the front passenger seat of the car.

From the police station, they went to a Victorian-styled house lined with police tape. Hannah followed them to it, parking the car several doors down and turned herself invisible again so they wouldn't notice her. When she caught with them the hunters were having some sort of argument outside of the car, while Ami sate in the back, looking very uncomfortable.

"It's not like she'll find anything," Eric said, "All she's good for being an attack dog!"

"You know that's not true," Freddy shot back, "She's sensed things before."

"A couple of times," Eric argued, "Not enough to justify bringing her in their when her face is all over the internet."

Freddy was about to point out that they were in those videos, too, when Ami reached out and shook his arm. "I'll be fine," She said, "Just go."

"You sure?" Freddy asked.

"She's sure," Eric said, grabbing Freddy's arm, "Let's go."

As soon as the pair were out of sight, Hannah approached the car, still invisible. She had no clue how to proceed. Should she explain that her fears, while understandable, were not the case anymore? Or should she just drag her back kicking and screaming? Once again, she found herself wishing Cas was here. Even if he was just as lost as she was, they would work it out together. _Stop it_ , She ordered herself, _Cas is gone and he's not coming back! You have to handle this by yourself_.

Finally, she decided that maybe it was best to leave Amendiel to her own devices and see what the hunters were like when they were alone.

She caught up to them just as they got to the door. Freddy rang the doorbell which was opened up by an older gentleman with graying brown hair.

"Mr. Smith," Freddy said, showing the fake badge, "I'm Agent Brown with the F.B.I this is agent Jones. We're here about your daughter's passing. We'd like to look around and ask you some questions."

Mr. Smith let them in and spent the next few minutes detailing how his daughter who had been disappeared for half a year reappeared and after walking for half a day, collapsed in her bedroom, dead. His every word seeped with anguish and a couple of time the poor man had to stop. Eric was growing impaceint, but Freddy kept his cool, encouraging Mr. Smith to take all the time he needed.

After that Mr. Smith lead them up to his daughter's, Masie, her name was, bedroom. He took a ragged breath when he saw the bloodstain on the floor, and on the corner of her bed, he ran out of the room. Eric pulled out an EMF reader and started going around the room with it.

"Dude, do you really think its ghost?" Freddy asked, "If this house was haunted the spirit would've attacked before now. And how many ghosts do you know that has extra organs to stuffed its victims with?"

"Well, I don't know what else could get up here with a door locked, to take her in the first place," Eric retorted, "Unless it could fly."

"There are things out there that can fly," Freddy reasoned.

"Not that many," Eric said, "Even the angel in our car can't fly. She's basically a blonde penguin."

Hannah clinched her fist resisting the urge to throttle him right then and there.

"Why do you have to do that?" Freddy asked.

"Do what?" Eric asked.

"Mock her," Freddy elaborated, "She's not even here and you're making fun of her, and not in joking way. Just because she's not human doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings."

"Since when do we care about a monster's feelings? "Eric asked.

 _I'll teach you to care about a 'monster's' feelings_. Hannah thought, fearing she might actually have to leave the room.

"Since, we made her our responsibility," Freddy responded.

"No _, yo_ u made her our responsibility," Eric shot back, "I never wanted her. I would have been just happy if we killed her!"

In spite of herself, Hannah let an audible gasp.

"Did you hear something?" Eric said, looking around.

"No," Freddy said, "And don't try to change the subject. She did nothing to deserve us killing her, in fact, she helped us that day, if you recall, and you know damn well, we have no clue how to kill her, or if we even can."

"My guess is that pig-sticker of hers would do it," Eric replied, perhaps a bit too casually, even given his profession, "And that didn't mean you had to take her in."

"After I talked to you were okay with it," Freddy reminded him, "What was that you said? She's a monster, but she's our monster."

"That was before I knew she was going to be a millstone around our necks," Eric shot back.

"When has she ever-" Freddy began, then it dawned on him, "Is this still about what happened in Lanercost?"

"We're never gonna be able to work again without the chance of someone finding that video," Eric replied.

"The imagines on that video aren't even that good," Freddy reasoned.

"That is not the point," Eric snapped, "If we'd just trained her right, that would have never happened to begin with."

"If we'd just-" Freddy began, before shaking her head in discuss, saying, "You know what? I can't even be in the same room with you right now." Then he marched out of the room.

"You're really doing this?!" Eric shouted, "Walking out on the case to be her knight in shining armor?!"

"I'm not walking out on the case," Freddy replied, "I'll look for any similar deaths, I just need to be away from you for a little bit."

Marching out of the house, he got into the driver's side of the car, slamming the door.

"Is everything alright?" Ami asked, concerned.

"Yeah, baby." Freddy replied trying to mask his anger, "Everything's fine. You want to research with me?"

"Sure," Ami said, as they drove off.

Having lost track of them after Freddy left the house, Hannah drove around all the cheap motels in the city until she found the station wagon. Parking at the edge of the lot and walking up to front desk with a very determined air, she handed the man manning the desk a hundred and said, "This is your if you can get me a room next to the owners of that car."

A few minutes she opened said room's door, shutting it behind her, the pressed her ear to the wall, hopping it was thin.

"Hey, Eric," She could hear Freddy saying on the other side, "We found something, and we think we might know what this is. You're not going to believe this, we could have an aswang on our hands, it's basically a Filipino vampire, shape shifter hybrid-type thing. It can assume a human form, but it can also fly, and it kills by sucking its victim's organs out then filling the course with anything it doesn't eat, which would explain the extra liver in Maise's body. Anyway, we're looking for a way to kill it now, just call when you get this, and get back here so we can finish this."

A half hour later and nothing from Eric, thought Hannah was actually a little glad. From what she was hearing, Freddy was the more even-kneeled of the two, and certainly the more decent. He spoke to Amendiel like she was a child sometimes, but he treated her better than Eric did. Though the bar wasn't set that high.

"Come on, man, I'm starting to get worried here," Freddy was saying, trying to call Eric again," Pick up your phone. As long as you're out can you make a supply run? Apparently, these things can be held off by very specific blend of spices, but it can only be killed with a whip made entirely from a stingray's tail that has been specifically treated with an enchantment and more of the spices. Yeah. It's gonna be one of those cases. Anyway, call be back."

Hannah was wondering if this happened a lot, the men getting into fights that conveniently got Freddy to do most of the work when Ami asked, "Did I do something?"

"No," Freddy said, "Why would you think that?"

"Because Eric got mad and left," Ami replied.

There was silence for a moment, then Freddy said, "First, off, Eric's not the one who got mad and went off this time. It was me. And that, that's just Eric's way. He was always a little angry, and then when his brother was killed by that Windego...he got even anger. If we didn't hunt, I don't know what would happen."

Hannah reeled back in disgust. She didn't know why, but she had expected better of him. Instead he was just making excuses for Eric's bad behavior. Eric, who mocked him for caring about Ami, who when he wasn't around hit her, who treated Ami herself like a pet at best. That gave Hannah an idea. She pulled out her phone and hit Sam's speed dial. "Hey," She said, walking away from the wall, "Are you busy?"

"Ah, actually a little bit," Sam said, dodging the water Dean had just splashed at them.

"Bath time already?" Hannah asked, not believing she had lost track of time like that.

"Yeah," Sam said, "Rough day, hun?"

"Yeah," Hannah sighed, "Tell you what, I'll let you do with this, then call you back later and tell you all about it, okay?"

"If our two-year-olds haven't drown me by then," Sam said, "Dean, no. Cas, no. Boys, let go of Daddy's hair-"

Hannah hung up and left Sam to the domestic problems she was surprised to find she was desperately missing, and put her ear to the wall. It sounded like someone was coming in. "Hey, Freddy," She could hear Eric say.

"Didn't you get my messages?" Freddy snapped.

"Yeah," Eric replied, "And I did what you said, except, it's hard to look for a specific blend of spices without knowing exactly what they are. "

Freddy then detailed the list of spices. A very detailed list that took fifteen minutes.

From there they tried to figure out how to get their hands on a sting-ray tail whip, not a word they got to use every day. _This might be easier than I thought_ , Hannah was thinking, _If Sam has the whip. Then again, that bunker seems to have everything else. Which probably would have helpful if I realized that sooner._

Just then her phone range. Deciding nothing going on in the other room was going to change the situation, she stepped away from the wall and picked it up. "I take it the boys didn't drown you."

"Not for a lack of trying," Sam said on the other end.

"And where are they now?" Hannah asked.

"It's ah, it's kind of cute, actually," Sam said, looking at the two toddlers hunkering down for the night, "They, ah, they decided they wanted to sleep in your bed."

"Why would they want to do that?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know, maybe it smells like you." Sam suggested.

"Sam," Hannah began, "I don't wear perfume. I don't even sleep in that bed. I'm not even sure why I have a room at all."

"Well, it's getting slept in tonight," Sam said, then putting the phone on speaker told the boys,  
"Say hi to Mommy guys."

"Hi Mommy!" They said simultaneously.

"Hi sweethearts," Hannah replied, "Are you two still doing alright?"

"Yes," Dean said, quickly followed by Cas copying, "Yes."

"I heard you got Daddy wet," Hannah told them.

There was a quiet moment then a simultaneous call of "Sowwy."

"I'm not the one you got wet." Hannah replied.

"We already telled Daddy sowwy." Castiel replied.

Hannah smiled. She knew they needed to work on teaching them proper speech, and they were, but in the meantime, they were so adorable.

"Are you coming home yet?" Dean asked.

Hannah's heart broke. "I'll be home as soon as I can, baby," She said, her voice cracking a little, "I actually need to talk to your Daddy alone about that. Good night boys, I love you."

"We love you too," The boys said simultaneously as Sam reclaimed the phone and walked out of the room. "I take it this is about why you called earlier." Sam guessed.

"It is," Hannah confirmed, "You were right about this one being different from the others. For one thing, from what I understand, the reason she hasn't come back is because she thinks it's just the same as it was before the Fall, all killing and factions."

"From what you understand?" Sam asked.

"Well, I didn't have a lot of time to talk to her," Hannah admitted, "When Freddy and Eric came back she made me leave. Apparently, they're not very trusting of anything not human."

"Can find you me a hunter who is?" Sam responded.

"You are," Hannah argued, "At least of some."

"But not all," Sam replied, "So, I take it you haven't actually talked to them?"

"No, but I've been following them in secret," Hannah explained, "They're hunting an aswang, it's-"

"I know what it is," Sam cut her off, "Me and Dean hunted one years ago, before-well, you know. Man, was it hard to kill. It can only be killed by tail made out of a stingray's tail, right?"

"That's what they found, too," Hannah replied, "I was hoping you had one at the bunker and I could trade them it for Amendiel. Amendiel, that's Ami 's actual name."

Sam, however was focused on another part of the statement. "Trade it for her? You mean like she's chattel?"

"That's how they treat her," Hannah responded, "Or at least like a pet, which technically is also chattel, but you think more of your pet then say, a TV set-"

"I get the point," Sam cut her off, before she could go off onto a tangent, "What exactly happened after I told you how to tail them?"

"Well, first they left her in the back of the car when they went into the police station," Hannah began, "But not before getting an angel blade out of the trunk and giving it to her, and I'm pretty sure it's her. They're keeping her blade, Sam! That's got to...I don't know break some kind of property law, or something."

"It probably does," Sam replied.

"And I'm fairly certain it was their idea to nickname her Ami," Hannah continued, "Which wouldn't be so bad, except when I asked her if we could talk away from the car, she was afraid they'd be upset with her leaving, speficly that Eric would get mad at her."

"Is Eric the one who was yelling at her in the video?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Hannah answered, "And when I asked if I could get in the car with her, he said Eric didn't like people messing with his things. What is this hold these men have other her?!" After a beat she added, "Seriously, I'm asking you."

Sam paused for a minute, thinking about what to say next. "I've to know more about the situation to even hazard a guess." He said finally, "How did she wind up traveling with them? Did they capture her somehow, or did she hook up with them willingly or-"?

"I'm not entirely sure," Hannah admitted, "Freddy mentioned she helped them on a case, and they let her stay, much to Eric's chagrin, as he admitted to wanting to kill her."

"When was this?" Sam asked, somewhat alarmed.

"While they were looking at the murder scene they got into a fight about Eric constantly mocking her," Hannah explained, "During which Eric said the Lancercost incident wouldn't have happened if they trained her right. Trained her! Can you believe him?"

"Well maybe they just meant like training her in hunting," Sam suggested, though he doubted it was that innocent, "I mean, Dean and I had to teach Cas things when he wanted to become a hunter."

"You and Dean never left him in the car," Hannah protested, "Or denied him his own property or mocked him both to his face and behind his back, or had him so scared of you he didn't make a move without your permission, or hit him! In fact, everything bad I've ever said about Castiel's relationship with you and your brother, I take it back."

Sam pauses for a minute. "Well, it wasn't exactly perfect-"

"It was better than this, trust me," Hannah replied, "And you want to know the worst part?"

"Sure," Sam said, realizing Hannah needed to vent.

"Freddy seems like a much better person than Eric," Hannah said, "He certainly treats Ami better than Eric does, and actually tried to defend her, but when I was listening to Freddy and Ami through the wall-

"Wait, what?" Sam asked.

'"I got the room next to theirs and spent the afternoon listening through the wall," Hannah explained, "And Freddy just kept making excuses for Eric, you should've heard it." Just then there was a knock on the door. Hannah walked over and looked through the peephole, and saw Amendial standing outside, anxiously looking around.

"Sam, I'm going to have to call you back," Hannah said.

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked, "Aside from the obvious?"

"Ami's at the door," Hannah explained, "Maybe I won't need that whip after all."

"I'll start looking for one anyway," Sam responded, "Let me know."

"I will," Hannah promised before hanging up, then opening the door.

"Why are you following us?" Ami asked.

"You know how I said, we know who's still on Earth?" Hannah replied, "And it's actually my job to get them to come back?"

"And you're here for me?" Ami summarized.

"Yes," Hannah admitted, "But your friends made that a little complicated." She looked around then added, "Where are they, anyway?"

"Eric went to get supplies for the hunt," Ami answered, "Freddy's trying to find some way to suss the creature out. I told him I needed some air."

"Does this mean you're ready to come?" Hannah asked hopefully. Perhaps something had happened while she was on the phone with Sam and Ami had decided she had, had enough.

"No," Ami said, slowly backing up.

Hannah sighed. "Ami, I know you're scared, and honestly, I don't blame you. We don't exactly have the best track record, but it's changed now, we've organized ourselves, you're not trying to kill each other anymore."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Ami said coolly, hurrying to the "safety," of their motel room.

"Then see it," Hannah called out, in a last bid to get Ami to work with her, "Come with me, and if I've lied about this, we'll let you leave, I promise. " She didn't mean it, but it was the only thing she would think of. Besides, Hannah was sure that once Ami saw she was being honest, she would stay.

Ami thought for a moment then said, "Let me finish this hunt first. If they can't find that whip they might need me to kill it. And from the looks of it they're gonna need me as bait."

Hannah suddenly felts sick. "They use you as bait?"

"Sometimes," Ami confirmed, looking down.

Hannah took a minute, then said, "I'll let you finish this hunt on one condition. I work with you."


	11. The Hunt

Freddy was reading more about aswangs when he heard a knock on the door. "Freddy," Ami's voice called out, "It's me."

Freddy stood up and unlocked the door. To his surprised he found not only Ami but a slightly older woman standing behind her.

'Ah, Ami," He said, "Who's this?"

"Hannah," Ami answered, "She's my sister. She's gonna help killed the aswang then...I have to go with her."

"Go with her?" Freddy asked, "Go with her where?"

"Home," Ami replied.

"But you said that it was blocked off to angels," Freddy responded.

"We found a door," Hannah spoke up, "It's a long story."

"And you're sure you want to go with her?" Freddy asked, "From what you've told me it's pretty gnarly up there."

"Not anymore according to her," Ami replied, "And if I don't like what I see I can leave."

"Alright then," Freddy said, "Hannah, welcome to the team."

"Thanks," Hannah said, walking into the room. It was just like hers in design, except for two beds instead of one, and it was strewn with books and weapons.

"Has Ami told you about the case?' Freddy asked.

"I got the gist," Hannah replied, "An aswang has killed three people in the area most recently one Masie Smith. You currently need a blend of spices and an enchanted sting ray tail whip."

Freddy looked at her for a moment, then shrugged, saying "Well, we also need some way to find it which will be a little more difficult than I thought because in addition to being able to take human form, aswangs apparently don't eat in the area they live. They also apparently exempt their friends from their victim pool. So, it could be anyone and be anywhere."

"Maybe not anywhere," Hannah said, the wheels turning in her mind, "It probably doesn't want to go too far out of its way to eat, right?"

"Right," Freddy said, seeing what he was getting at. Pulling out a map of the area and a red marker he continued, "So if we look at the location of the murders," He circled the three spots on the map, relieving them to be several inches away from each other, "Then we can narrow down the area we're looking at, "He finished, circling a larger area of the map, engulfing the three smaller circles. "It's not ideal, but a little more workable."

They spent the next hour trying to find a way to narrow down the area even more. Standing up from his bed, Freddy said, "I'll be back in a minute, I just need to use the facilities."

"Okay," Ami said, momentarily looking up from her work as he walked off.

Seizing the opportunity, Hannah asked, "Ami, can I ask you something?"

"Depends on what is," Ami replied.

"How did you get involved with Eric and Freddy?"

Ami looked down beginning, "It was a little after the fall. Everyone I knew was in different faction so I just wondered around, trying to keep my head down when I found this run-down barn, that I didn't realize was a vampire nest. They attacked me, and at the same time, Freddy and Eric showed up. They had been trying to find it for about a week. Next thing I know we're fighting them together and I smoted a few, and that made Eric freak out. He wanted to kill me, but since I helped them Freddy wanted to hear me out, so I told them everything, and Freddy asked if I wanted to come with them. Like I said, I didn't have anyone else anymore, so I said yes."

"But Eric wasn't too happy with this arrangement," Hannah guessed.

"No," Ami admitted, "He still wanted to kill me. But Freddy pointed out that I could be useful then he said I could stay as long as they kept my blade. He didn't want me attacking them in their sleep. Like I said, he's not too trusting of anything not human."

"But you more than proved yourself," Hannah replied.

"I know," Ami said, "But it's okay. Freddy says it's just easier to give Eric his way some times."

"How often is that?" Hannah asked.

"I don't...know," Ami said, finally.

Just then the front door began to open and they could hear Eric's voice saying, "I found everything except for the-" His voice trailed off when he saw Hannah, "Who the Hell are you?!"

"Hannah, I'm ..." Her voice trailed off, wondering if telling Eric, the truth was a good idea, "An old friend of Freddy's."

"Huh," Eric replied, "That's funny. Because me and Eric have been best friends since Kindergarten, and sure, there were a couple of Hannahs in our school, but I don't remember us ever being that close with any of them."

Hannah paused a minute, wishing she has realized that before. "I'm a friend of Ami's." She said finally.

Eric shot her an angry, accusing look.

"I've only met her today, I swear," Ami replied.

Just then Freddy came out of the bathroom.

"Freddy," Eric said, "This lady here says she's a 'friend' of Ami's. What's she doing here?"

"She's helping us with the aswang," Freddy answered.

"What are we, a halfway house for freaks now?!" Eric balked, "When the Hell did this happen?"

"I didn't come to stay," Hannah spoke up, "I just want to take Ami back home, and to do that, I need to finish this case."

"What?" Eric asked, thoroughly confused and annoyed.

"Apparently Heaven's back open for business," Freddy explained, "Ami's going back with her after we finished this case."

"I figured I owed you guys that much," Ami said softly.

"After a year of room and board," Eric said, "Yeah, I think so."

"She doesn't even eat," Hannah snapped, but before she could say anything else, her phone rang, "I better take this. I have a lead on a whip, this might be it."

The other allowed Hannah to step outside, shutting the door behind her. "Sam," She said, answering the call.

"You hadn't called back yet, I was starting to get worried." Sam explained, "So, is she ready to go?"

"Um, not exactly," Hannah replied, "She agreed to come, but she wants to finish this hunt first. I agreed to it, but only if she let me help."

"What?!" Sam exclaimed, "Hannah, do even you know the first thing about hunting?"

"Why do you always ask me something like that?" Hannah responded.

"Well, do you?" Sam replied.

"How much different can it be from what I've been doing for the last few months." Hannah challenged.

"Well for one thing I highly doubt the rouge angels want to eat you." Sam pointed out.

"You'd be surprised." Hannah replied, "Look, did find a whip?"

"Still looking," Sam said, "But, I, uh, think I know a place where you can get one."

Ten minute later Eric parked the car in front of store with two large windows where several different types of baked goods were on display, and a sign that read, Anna Damn Her Bakery. "Are you sure this is the place?" He asked.

"Yes." Hannah replied tersely, "My contact clearly said the Anna Damn Her Bakery. Apparently, the names come from a legend involving a certain type of bread."

"I can see hunter signs." Freddy pointed out, "Just below that tray of bagels. Not exactly the most inconspicuous spot."

"Whatever," Eric snorted, "Let's just get this whip and get on with it." Turning to the two female angels in the back seat he said, "You two stay here."

Ami nodded and Hannah said, "Don't worry. I have my own blade."

Freddy looked a little guilty as the two walked into the bakery. A young woman with aqua-colored hair pulled back in a tight bun looked up as she heard them enter. Her name tag read Anne. "Hello," Anne said, smiling, "What can I get for you."

"A whip made out of a sting ray tail would be nice." Eric spoke up.

"Excuse me?" Anne replied.

"We saw the hunter signs outside miss." Freddy took over.

"Manners." Anne declared, "I like you. So, ah, what are you hunting, just so I know exactly what to get for you?"

"Aswang." Freddy answered.

"I'll get that ready for you it'll just take a couple of minutes." The aqua haired girl said before disappearing into the kitchen. Suddenly there was clank and clash and crash of cooking entrustments hitting each other, as Anne mumbled, "Come on, come on-ha!" Then sound of more rummaging and Anne chanting. Finally, Anne came out, a black whip coiled in her hands. She sat it on the counter saying, "That will be fourteen ninety-nine please."

"What?!" Eric balked.

"I don't have a lot of these in stock." Anne offered in way of explanation, "And it's difficult for me to get more and then there's the prep work-"

"Which took you all of five minutes!" Eric snapped.

"Eric," Freddy cut in, "Eric, it's no big deal. It's just fifteen bucks."

As Freddy went for his wallet, Eric asked, "What if we settle this through trade?"

"Depends on what you have to trade," Anne answered

Eric smiled wickedly as he asked, "What do you know about angels?"

Freddy froze.

"Only that their feathers are frickin' hard to come by." Anne replied, "Why?"

"What I told you I can get you an endless supply?" Eric responded.

Before the young woman could give an answer, Freddy grabbed fistfuls of Eric shirt and threw him against the wall. "What the Hell do you think you're doing?!" Freddy seethed.

"Look, her friend can come back and bust her out later." Eric reasoned casually.

"She's a person, we can't trade her like a slave." Freddy shot back, his anger practically radiating off him.

"She's a monster, " Eric scoffed, "We can do what we want with her."

Freddy felt a blind hot rage like he had never felt at anyone before welling up inside and before he knew it Eric felt that rage on the side of his check and his former best friend punched him on the cheek, sending him to the ground.

"You know what?" Freddy began, "For as long as I can remember I have been making excuses and running interference for you, but I'm done. After this hunt, we go our separate ways." Then he turned around and seemingly drained of all his rage, handed the baker fifteen dollars, then picked up the whip.

When the hunters got back in the angels could feel the tension rolling off them. It also wasn't lost on Hannah saw that Freddy had taken the wheel. Then they saw the angry red welt on Eric's cheek.

Ami let out a gasp but Hannah grabbed her hand and squeeze it, trying to signal to her not to talk. However, she herself asked, "Did you get the whip?"

"Yeah." Freddy said tensely, "We got it. Let's get this over with."

When they arrived at the area they deemed was most likely to be the place where the aswang resided, Freddy and Eric drive the streets slowly, the whip ready to go.

Meanwhile Hannah and Ami were walking around outside trying to get the aswang's attention. The original plan had just been for Ami to be out on the streets, but Hannah had insisted on going with her.

"I don't think this is going to work." Hannah said after a while, "I mean, for all we know it's not even hungry right now, or won't go for us because it knows we're not human or both."

"We don't have any other options." Ami replied.

"Well, what about trying to find its nest?" Hannah suggested.

"We didn't get a small enough area for it." Ami reminded her.

"So, walking around and hopping it's here is so much more rational?" Hannah snapped.

Ami turned around and was about to say something when something swooped down and grabbed onto her, flying off with the slight angel.

The hunters leapt from the car and Freddy cracked the whip at the creatures heals as if tried to fly up into the night. The creature screamed as he tried to fight the struggling angel its hold. The pair seemed to be equally matched in strength. In a last-ditch effort to get free, Ami bit her captor's clawed hand in addition to pulling down and they both went tumbling to the grown.

Hannah felted Ami to her feet as Freddy took advantage of the monster's momentary disorient state slinging the whip and wrapping it around the creature's throat. The creature struggled and the whip stared to tear.

"Give me that." Eric snapped, snatching the whip from Eric's hand and pushing him out of the way. He leapt onto the creature's body using his elbows to pin its arms to the ground. He wrapped the whip around it so tight he only had the handle to hold onto, and just stared the creature down mercilessly until it took its last gasp of life.

Everyone else just stared. Everyone knew what they had come there that night to do, but the whole thing was just so brutal, more so than was probably necessary, even.

"Well come on," Eric said standing up, "Let's take care of the body."

They went out to abandoned field a few miles from the city and built a pyre, placing the wrapped up aswang body on it. They all watched in silence as the body burned.

"Are you ready to go?" Hannah asked Ami at last.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Ami answer walked up to the hunters. "Goodbye Freddy." She said solemnly, "Eric."

Freddy threw his arms around her. "Goodbye Amendiel," He said, his voice a little weepy, "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Okay." She promised as the embrace broke.

"Hey, ah, you wanna go get your blade?" Eric asked.

"Thank you." Ami replied, thinking it was just Eric being nice before they had to part.

"I'll go with you." Freddy volunteered, as they walked to the station wagon, which was parked in front of Hannah's Lincoln.

Eric opened the truck, which, as with most hunters was full of weapons. Ami reached down to grab the blade but Eric was faster grabbing the blade and moving in a stabbing motion towards Ami.

"No!" Freddy shouted, grabbing Eric's wrist and taking the blade then handing it to Ami before punching Eric again. "Hannah, get Ami out of here." He ordered, still wailing on his former friend.

"Come on," Hannah said, gently guiding Ami, who was in tears, away from the scene, "Let's get out of here."

"Bitch!" Eric screamed out as Ami was getting into the car, "You ruined our lives!"

"No, Eric, that was you!" Freddy shouted, punching him again.

Hannah franticly stepped on the gas, trying to get out of the field. Even though the scene fading quickly in her review, she somehow felt like they weren't getting very far at all.


	12. Bad Day

For a while they drove in total silence, save for Ami's sobbing.

"It'll be fine." Hannah assured her, "In fact, it's probably better, that's Freddy on his own now."

"What do you mean on his own?!" Ami exclaimed, "You think he'll kill Eric?"

"No," Hannah said quickly realizing she had screwed up, "I just think that after what just happened Freddy's finally done with him. Look, if it makes you feel better, after I drop you off, I'll go back and check on them and tell you what happened."

"No." Ami sobbed, "It's better if we all just stay away from them. Eric was right; I ruined their lives."

"No." Hannah said firmly," No, he was wrong. Freddy was the one who was right. Look, I get that it's hard for you to see it but Eric...he's not a good person. And if it wasn't you something else would have made Freddy realize it eventually."

"How do you know?" Ami challenged, "How do you know Eric's not a good person?"

"Because I've met good people and they don't act like that." Hannah explained.

When they got the playground Hannah and Ami walked side by side up to the guard, who appeared to be a teenage boy and girl sitting under the monkey bars. When they saw they pair they started to get up. "Amendiel?" The girl asked.

Ami nodded.

"Turns out she wasn't dead," Hannah said, "Just being held captive. " They figured it was a much more understandable story than what actually happen, "Can you take care of her for me? I have to get going."

"Of course." The girl replied.

Ami looked back for a minute, still unsure.

"You'll be fine." Hannah promised.

With that reassurance Amendiel allowed herself to be lead through the door by the guards, as Hannah walked back to the car.

Hannah drove until she couldn't see the gate then pulled over and pulled out her phone, dialing Sam. "Hannah." The hunter's voice said through the other end of the line after he picked up.

She never knew should could be so happy to hear a Winchester's voice as she was in that moment.

"It's done." Hannah said, "I'm coming home right now."

"Did everything go okay?" Sam asked.

"Depends on your version of okay." Hannah admitted, "No one was hurt on the actual hunt, but then Eric snapped and attacked Ami, so Freddy attacked him and the last either of us saw of them was Freddy beating Eric to a bloody pulp. Ami was really upset about it."

"Whoa." Sam responded, "And, um, the other angels?"

"I told them she had been held against her will." Hannah said, "They should take her back." Hannah got quiet as it finally sunk in that she had lied to her siblings, something she had never done before. To her knowledge she had never lied, period.

"Hey, Hannah." Sam said, concerned by the silence, "Hannah. Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Hannah replied, "It's just, uh, it's been a long couple of days. I never thought I'd actually be glad go back to that bunker. How are boys?"

"Okay." Sam said, "Reason came over and she's helping them with their costumes."

"Costumes?" Hannah asked, confused.

"For Halloween." Sam answered, "I'll explain later. They're be glad to hear you're coming home. When should we expect you back?"

"Sometime tonight." Hannah answered, "If I get going now. I'll see you soon."

"You too." Sam said, before hanging up.

Hannah was just a few miles from town when she heard a Kur-broooom that shook the whole car and a few seconds later thick gray smoke coming out of the hood. She didn't know anything cars, but she knew that wasn't good. She parked the car and stepped walking over to the front of the car and pulling up the hood only to have more of the smoke pillow up into her face, making her cough. She waved the smoke again, and finally got a look at the engine once her eyes stopped burning. Nothing looked really wrong with it, not that she could see. She did the only other thing she could think to do; take off her jacket and rolling up her sleeves she practically climbed into the compartment. Unfortunately, she still didn't know anything about cars, so the only purpose it served was to cover her in grease or oil or some kind of car juice she didn't recognize. Not knowing what else to she pulls out her phone and hit the familiar speed dial.

"Hey," Sam picked up, "Are you almost here?"

"I'm not sure." Hannah admitted, "I'm in Kansas, but I'm not exactly sure where in Kansas, and my car just broke down and I have no idea what to do and I was hoping you would."

"Alright," Sam said, "Here's what we're gonna do: I'm gonna track the GPS in your phone then I'm gonna pack up the kids and come get you, then we're gonna deal with the car. Just stay there until then."

"Sam, you really don't have to do that." Hannah replied.

"I'm not leaving you stranded on the highway." Sam insisted, "Just say where you are until I get there, okay?"

"Okay. "Hannah gave in.

A half hour later and Hannah was still waiting. After he got a trace on her, Sam had called and told her he was on the way, but still she was starting to get inpatient, and the fact that the sun was sitting wasn't helping matters. So, she starting walking.

By the time she lost sight of the car, Hannah was starting to wonder if she had made the wisest choice. She was nowhere near closer to her destination and at this rate it would take her all night and most of the day. That was also when it hit her she was completely alone on deserted highway. She had seen enough TV to know that very bad things happened in these situations. She turned around and felt the first drops of rain fall on her. Soon the drizzled turned into downpour and she could only see a few feet in front of her. She continued to walk until she tried to lift her right foot and found she couldn't. She looked down and saw her foot was stuck in a mud puddle. She pulled on it, but it still wouldn't budge, so pulled a little harder and still nothing, so she gave it one great finial tug with all her strength, and it sent her falling to ground, but freeing her foot. However, when looked up she found the shoe itself was still firmly in the mud. No longer able to take the trauma conga line the day had subjected her to, she started crying. She had been crying for a few minutes when she heard a car horn honk. She looked up and saw a familiar black Impala on the side of road, and someone getting out. It was Sam.

Seeing the state, she was in, Sam ran over to the angel and pulled her off the ground. "Are you hurt?"

Hannah shook her head. "I lost my shoe, though." She sniffled.

Sam resisted the urge to laugh when he saw the boot stuck in the mud. "Been there, done that." He said symthedicly instead, "Let's get you to the car and then I'll try to get out for you."

Sam walked Hannah over to the car and dispoited her in the shotgun seat, then Sam went back to rescue the shoe. She watches for a few moments as he struggled with it, then she heard snoring in the back seat. She turned around and saw Dean and Castiel, snoozing away. Coat was covering them both like a blanket and Dean had a plastic fireman's helmet on his head. "They're either going to sleep very well, or get no sleep at all later tonight." She thought.

It was at that point Sam came back to the car, victorious. "Got it." He said, scrapping off some of the mud before handing the shoe to her.

After retrieving the car and hooking it to the Impala, they went straight home. Hannah stepped out and tried to help Sam with the children, but the hunter put his hand up in a stopping motion saying, "It's alright, I got this. You just go in and start a shower."

"Sam, I'm an angel." She reminded him, "We don't need to shower."

"Not normally," Sam replied, scooping up Cas, "But you're covered in mud and oil. It couldn't hurt."

Seeing that he was right, Hannah said, "Alright, and headed into the bunker.

When she finally found the shower, she shed her clothes piece by piece, then stepped inside and just stared at the knob for a few seconds. Experimenting, she pulled and turned on the knobs until she was assaulted by a sudden spray of icy cold water, causing her yelp and jump back. "Come on Hannah," She told herself, "You've taken on aswang and a maniac today, you can handle a shower." She reached through the freezing drops and turned the other level which gave the water warmth. She stepped under it, the warmth chasing the cold from her body and watched as the mud and muck swirled into the drain, disappearing. She wished getting rid of the rest of the day could be so easy. Even if Amendiel was accepted back no questions asked she'd never be the same again, and now Eric was lose on unsuspecting world. What would he do now that Freddy wasn't around to keep him under control and he lost his angelic punching bag? What if he finally, seriously hurt a human?

When she finally stepped out of the shower she discovered someone had taken her clothes and replaced them with a large gray robe with a note on top. _Put your stuff in the wash, this was all I could fine. Sorry if it's a little big. -Sam_

Hannah put on the robe, which _was_ a lose fit, even tied at its tightest and went to look for Sam.

She found him and the main area pouring a cup of coffee. "Kids are in bed." He began, sitting the cup on one of the tables, " Never woke up, actually. Thought you could use something hot."

Hannah paused for a minute, touched by the gesture. "Thank you." She said finally, sitting down in front of the cup.

Sitting down across from her, Sam asked, "Are you okay?"

Hannah paused for a minute, because it was a good question. "I don't-know."

"Do you, um, wanna talk about it?" Sam asked.

That was when it hit Hannah like a strike of lightening. She thought she was alone without Castiel, but she wasn't. There was an unusually tall hunter right in front of her, ready and willing to help, if only she reached out. "Yes," She said, "Yes, thank you."


	13. Trick R Treat

"Okay," Sam said, trying to get his phone into focus, "I think I got it."

He was trying to take a picture of the boys, decked out in their Halloween costume. Dean was in a yellow rain slicker that with the help of some black duct tape and plastic hat, had become a fireman's uniform. Castile was decked in white robes with sliver halo around his head, his wings allowed to be out in the open. Both were holding the plastic pumpkins they had picked out themselves the day before.

Sam finally got the perfect shot and took the picture. "Got it." He said, "Now, let's get your harnesses on before Ms. Reason gets here."

By the time they got the plain blue harnesses on the squirmy, excited toddlers (the back-pack ones wouldn't fit on Cas due to his wings, whether they were hidden or not) there was knock on the door. "I'll get it." Sam said, handing Dean's leash to Hannah and going up the stairs. When he opened the door, he found Reason holding a brown leash that lead to a tiny Peanuts-esque ghost. "Oh, my gosh," Sam gapped, backing away a little in mock terror, "A ghost. Get away, get away."

The "ghost'' giggled. "It's me Mista Sam."

"Ah, Maudie," Sam, breathed, feigning relief, "You scared me."

"Sowwy." Maudie said softly.

Sam laughed a little. "It's alright, come in, the boys are waiting."

Sam lead the pair down the stairs where Hannah and the boys met them halfway. "Wow, don't you two looks cute." Reason said.

"Fank you." The boys said in unison.

"And Sam, what did I tell you about the wings?" Reason asked.

"You called it." Sam replied. It was Reason who suggested being an angel to Cas as this was the one night of the year he could go out with his wings revealed.

"You guys ready to go?" Reason asked.

"Lead the way." Sam said.

And so, after a short ride they arrived at a local church with a parking lot full of...interestingly decorating cars and costumed children and their guardians running around.

"So, what's the deal with this thing again?" Sam asked as they walked onto the parking lot, inspecting for any real dangers.

"It's called Trunk or Treat," Reason explained, "The participants dress up their cars and kids go around trick 'er treating as usual. "

"And how did you learn about this?' Hannah asked, looking around.

"Serena and her younger sisters have a car here," Reason explained, "That's them over there."

They walked over to the nova, which was decorated in spider webs, and girl in her mid-teens who bore a slight resemble to Serena Joy in dark dress and witch hat.

"You must be Norma Jean," Reason said, "Or are you Priscilla Jean? Sorry, we've never actually met before, so I don't know for sure."

"That's Priscilla." Serena Joy said, stepping out of the car, revealing the spider-web clock she was decked out in, "For the record, we picked the theme out a couple of months ago. It was too late by the time...well, you know."

"What are you talking about?" Priscilla Jean asked.

"Nothing." Serena Joy replied, "Priscilla, this my friend Reason. She works at the dinner. This very spooky ghost here is her daughter Maudie. Those two are Sam and Hannah and their twins Dean and Castiel."

Priscilla Jean gave them a questioning look.

"Family name on her side." Sam lied quickly, gesturing to Hannah.

"Did you consider making that his middle name?" Priscilla Jean replied, "Or at least calling him by his middle name?"

"Hey, who are we to judge?" Serena Joy quickly interjected, "We all have two first names. Speaking of which, guys, this is my little sister Priscilla Jean, and that in the car is Norma Jean."

"Hey," Norma Jean, who looked exactly like Priscilla Jean, except her hair was back in a pony tail, said as she stepped out of the car.

The group sheepishly waved back.

"Now," Serena Joy said, taking a bowel from her sister, " Let's get down to business. What's the magic word, boys-and girl?"

"Trick or treat." The kids said, excitedly holding out their buckets.

Serena Joy took out three pieces of candy and plopped one in each bucket. "Have fun tonight, guys." She said, then looking at the adults added with a mischvious smirk on her face, "Wait 'till you get a load of the car on the end of the lot."

Before Sam could ask what that meant he felt himself being pulled by an egger Dean to the next car. As the others joined him he heard a little voice ask, "Daddy, what's a middle name?"

Sam looked down to see Cas had walked over to him, staring up at him expectantly. Sam paused for a minute, because it was actually a good question. "A middle name is, um, a name that goes in-between your first name and your last name. It's usually only used on official documents, but some people go by their middle name."

"Do I have a middle name?" Cas asked.

"Well, um, not all people have middle names, buddy." Sam fumbled.

Cas looked sad. "Wat about Dwean?" He asked, "Does Dwean have a middle name?"

Sam paused. Dean did in fact have a middle name. It was Eric. Should he lie about? They had lied about everything else.

Before Sam could figure out his response, Reason spoke up. "Would you like a middle name, baby?"

Cas nodded.

"How about William?" Hannah spoke up.

"Where'd you get William from?" Reason asked.

"It uses to be Sam's." Hannah explained, "It's not like he's using it anymore."

"Castiel William Winchester." Sam tried out, "That actually has nice ring to it. What you think, Cas?"

"I like it." Cas said, smiling from ear to ear.

"William, it is then." Sam said.

"Yay!" Cas cheered, running to the next car chanting, " Cashtul William Winchester," As Hannah tried to dig her heels into the ground, but still wound up being dragged by the toddler.

Sam couldn't help but laugh.

A little while later, when they were about halfway down the row and the kids haul was getting fuller, they came across an oddly familiar gray van with a pumpkin on the side.

"No," Reason gasped.

But, sure enough, standing in front of the van, holding a purple bowel, was Rawls.

"What you doing here?" Reason asked dismayed by his presence.

"A... friend told me about it." Rawls answered, "Thought I volunteer."

Sam and Hannah exchanged knowing looks. "Not the most decretive set-up, is it?" Sam added in. Indeed, in compared to the other vehicles, which were much more elaborate, Rawls was rather plain.

"Give me a break, it's my first year." Rawls said.

The kids walked over to him and held up their bags almost simultaneously saying, "Trick or Treat."

"Right, of course." Rawls said, taking candy out of the bowel, "Some from the ghost, some for the fireman, and some for the angel. Hey, what's with the wings? Why are they black?"

Sam and Hannah paused for a moment. "It was the only pair we could find." Sam covered finally.

"Oh," Rawls said, "Well, I like it. It's different."

An hour and a half later they wound up at the last car and Sam immediately realized what Serena Joy had been referring to. While it wasn't an actual Impala, but the familiar-looking trio of two girls and a boy had done their best to replicate it.

"Hey, would you mind taking Dean?" Sam whispered to Hannah, "I'm just gonna-head back to the car."

"Sure," Hannah said, as while she wasn't really aware of the books, the similarities to the Impala and the three of them pre-deaging was not lost on her.

The kids however didn't notice anything odd as they ran up to the trio their buckets outstretched.

"Here you go, guys." The boy, who was dressed as Sam said as he handed them the candy, "How is it going tonight?"

"We goted candy!" Maudie declared.

"I see that." One of the girls dressed up as Cas, said rubbing Maudie on the head.

"En I goted a middle name!" Cas added, and every adults' hearts fell into the stomach.

The trio gave the women questioning looks.

"It's a long story." Hannah offered for an explanation.

"Well, good you for you." The female Castiel said, before her male counterpart and the other children toddled back to their parents.

As they started to leave, Hannah turned back around. "Excuse, I couldn't help but wonder, what is your car based on?"

"A book series called _Supernatural_ ," Female Castiel explained, "It's one of those cult series. I wouldn't recommend for young children."

"Thanks." Hannah replied, as she and the others headed back to the car.

Later on, at the bunkers the three adults were inspecting the candy for any signs of being tampered with. Well, Sam and Hannah were, Reason had fell asleep next to Maudie in the pile of the child's candy. (Reason hadn't slept in two days.)

"Should we wake her up?" Hannah asked, looking over at the teenager.

"Na," Sam replied, putting an Almond Joy bar back in Dean's bucket, "The kid's been working double shifts all week to get tonight off, let her sleep." Going back to the stash and pulling a full-size candy bar, "Those car people were very generous."

Not looking up from her inspection, Hannah asked, "Did you have a series of books written about you and your brother?"

"Hun?" Sam responded, looking up from his work.

"Back at the church, I asked those people who looked like you and the boys about their car, and they said it was based off a book." Hannah explained, "She called it a... cult series?"

Sam paused for a minute. "Uh, yeah," He said at last, "Do you, um, remember the prophet Chuck Shurely?"

After consulting the list in her head Hannah nodded.

"Well, um, before he realized his visions were real, and a bit after he realized they were, he wrote them down as stories and-somehow-they got published." Sam finished, "And it got small, but -freakishly dedicated fan base, what's known as cult following."

"Do you any copies of them?" Hannah asked.

"Seriously?" Sam asked, "You want to read them?"

"I just want to look." Hannah replied.

"Well," Sam said, "We probably don't have one unless we were having a bond-fire, but I'll see if I scround one up."

As it turned out, for some reason there was copy of the first book in back of one of shelves. She sat down next to Cas' bucket and started flipping through it when something caught her eye. "Sam," She began, "Is it true that you hate Halloween?"

"What?" Sam replied, looking up from the last of Dean's candy.

"It says here you hate Halloween." Hannah said, pointing to the book.

"Well, growing up hunting actual monster's kind of takes the fun out of it," Sam admitted.

"But you seemed alright with it tonight." Hannah said, a look of confusion on her face.

"Well, the boys were looking forward to it," Sam explained, "They're ...innocent again, and my hang-ups shouldn't ruin something like this for them."

Thinking of their boys excited running through the rows of cars, Hannah could understand what Sam meant.

Then Sam took the last manicure candy bar out of its wrapper and stuffed it into his month.

"Did you just steal candy from a small child?" Hannah asked, a slight head tilt.

"Oh, please as if you didn't dig into the Sour Patch Kids," Sam huffed good naturedly, "Don't deny it, I saw you almost choke on them."

"I did Cas a favor by eating those," Hannah commented, "They were-really sour."

"They turn sweet after a little bit." Sam explained.

"That is a cruel joke to play on someone," Hannah said.

Sam resisted the urge to laugh. "Alright, I'm going to find a place to put these so the boys don't gorge themselves and we don't steal anymore." Then he picked up the buckets and headed out of the room.


	14. Back On The Horse

**AN: Okay, it is** _ **very**_ **difficult to translate English into** _ **spoken**_ **Hebrew, so apologizes if what Tova called Sam is wrong. She's trying to say 'big guy' by the way.**

Sam peered through the rows of bookshelf, looking for a certain toddler. "Cas, did he tell you where hewas hiding?"

They were playing hide-and-seek and it was Sam's turn to find everyone. He had found all the angels of the house, but Dean was nowhere to be found.

Cas shook his head.

"You think he would've made it a little easy like we did for them." Hannah commented started to get concerned.

It was just then Sam noticed an odd square shaped stack of books in the floor. He turned to his companions and put a finger up to his lips, indicating for them to be quiet. "I wonder where he could be?" Sam called out, sauntering over to the fort, "I have no idea. Oh wait-" Then he lunged down and picked up Dean, spinning his around and causing the toddler to squeal. "Found him." Sam said, standing still.

Just then there was the sound of a phone ringing. Thinking it was his Sam pulled it out from his pocket, only to discover it was silent. "Take him for a minute?" Sam requested handing Dean to Hannah.

Hannah did, allowing Sam to follow the mysterious phone.

He followed it down the hall, was surprised to find it coming from his room. He walked in and started looking through the drawers, and found them in a pile of old phones. In fact, it was one of Dean's cell phones. "He picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Who is this?" A female voice with a light accent Sam couldn't place, asked.

"Sam Winchester," He answered, "Who's this?"

"Tova Abramov." The woman on the other end answered, "I'm an - acquaintance of Dean's from a few years back. I was working a job in Michigan and I thought there was something you and your brother should see. Can you two come down?"

"Dean's sort of-out of action." Sam replied, "But I could probably come. I just need to run it by someone first. Can you tell me about the case?"

After Sam got off the phone he went back to the main area of the bunker where Hannah was keeping the boys entertained.

"Hey guys." He said, "I need to talk Mommy for a minute, okay?"

The boys nodded as Sam lead Hannah a few feet away. "Okay, so, that was um, some -acquaintance of adult Dean." Sam explained.

"How did she know you two?" Hannah asked.

" Um, _we_ didn't know her. " Sam began, " I've never heard of her 'till today. She' s working case in Flint, Michigan. A teacher at an all-girls school went missing. She was heading to her car, disappeared and nobody's seen her since. Says there's something we need to see. "

"Did you tell her about Dean?" Hannah asked, momentarily looking over to the child in question.

"Of course not." Sam said, "Like I said, I don't know her. But I'd like to figure out how Dean knew her. Is it okay if I go?"'

"Are you asking my permission?" Hannah replied.

"Well, you are the one who's going to be left here with pining tow-year-olds." Sam said, "Look, it's probably nothing. I'll get in, I'll get out, I'll figure out what the deal is with this woman, I'll be back before you know it."

"Sam, it's fine." Hannah replied, "Like I said, we both knew you were going to start hunting again eventually. Neither expected there'd be a mystery woman involved, but we knew you'd start hunting again."

"You're the best," Sam said, relieved, "We'll figure out how to let the kids know, then I'll call her back and tell her I'm coming."

The next the day Sam parked in front of the school where a girl with slightly tanned skin and wavy black hair that went a little passed her shoulders was standing outside waiting for Sam.

"Tova Abramov?" Sam asked.

" You must be Sam." The woman responded, extending a hand for Sam to shake, "Dean told me a lot about you."

"He told me...absolutely nothing about you, really." Sam admitted.

"Really?" Tova asked, one eyebrow raised.

Sam nodded.

"Well, this is a little awkward." Tova said, "So, where is he anyway?"

"That a-long story." Sam, answered, "So, what was it you wanted to show us?"

"Come with me." Tova said flatly, turning in going around and heading back into the building Sam trailing behind.

"So, the last place Ms. Chandler was seen by anyone was the auditorium." Tova explained as they headed toward the place, "Turns out she's the drama teacher. If my hunch is right, the play the girls are preparing should seem a little...familiar to you."

Sam was about to ask what that meant when heard a rather familiar word. "idjits."

He turned towards the voice and found a teenage girl dressed suspiciously like Bobby Singer, with a fake beard and everything, repeating, " You, idjits! You, idjits. You are idjits."

Sam looked around trying to figure out what going on, when another expression was heard.

"Hey, ass-butt!" A girl dressed d eerily similar to the one from Halloween called out to an invisible person, swinging a fake Molotov cocktail, "Hey! Ass-butt!"

Before he could process what was happening someone started playing a piano. He looked and saw two girls dressed up like his parents walking across the stage with a bundle then a girl he thought might be Dean begin to sing:

 _John and Mary, husband and wife_

 _Bringing home a brand-new life._

 _His name is Sammy,_

 _I'm big brother, Dean._

 _The perfect family, or so it seems_

As if on cue someone in a long black coat and a nosforetu-esqe mask appeared.

 _The demon's visits had begun_

 _He believed Sam was the chosen one._

 _It burned my mother-_

 _And it cursed my brother,_

 _Leaving us in tears_

 _On the road so far,_

 _Yeah, the road, so far!_

 _We are in Dad's car-_

At that point, a female voice called out, "Cut!" Then a dark-haired girl in a red beret came up to the stage and started directing the actresses. Meanwhile Sam was starting to deal with what he just saw.

" This is why I didn't want to tell you on the phone." Tova murmured to Sam, " I didn't think you'd believe me." Then concerned by the mildly glazed over look in his eyes and the fact that he was still gapping, she asked, " Sam? Hey! _r'g goy_! " She snapped her fingers, "You still with us?"

"Yeah, " Sam said, snapping back to reality, "If there is a case...it probably has to do with all of this."

"Oh, trust me, it does." Tova replied.

Around the same time an Asian girl in black-rimmed glasses across the director, and pointed Sam out to her. "Amateurs?" The first girl asked.

"Hi!" The girl in the beret began, as she and her friend hurried up to Sam, "Oh, my gosh...are you guys from the publisher? I'm Marie, writer, slash director. This is Maeve, my stage manager, and I was just, ah, dir-" Her voice trailed off when she saw Sam's badge. Tova tried to show them her badge as well, but then Sam realized the actresses playing him and Dean were doing the same, motioned from her to stop.

"I'm agent Smith." Sam said, "This is my partner agent-" His voice trailed off when he realized she had no clue what alias she was using, or even if it was F. B. I.

"Steinman." Tova finished, "That's uh, an interesting play you got there. Where'd you come up with the idea?"

"It's based on a book series, _Supernatural_ ," Maeve spoke up, "Well, Marie's interpretation."

"Yeah, I think I've heard of those," Sam replied, "Anyways. We're here to talk about the disappearance of Ms. Chandler. Any chance you two saw her, before she vanished?"

"Hum, yeah." Marie said, "She left around like, what? Nine thirty?"

"Any idea where she would be headed at that time of night?" Sam asked.

"A bar?" Maeve guessed, "Or a liquor store? Both?"

"Wow." Sam responded, "Really?"

"She had a nasty divorce last year." Marie explained, "Most of the time, she's sipping on her, uh, grown-up juice, or passed out. Usually in that order."

Sam put his concerns about an alcoholic teacher on the back burner for a moment and turned to the other girl and said, "Maeve, right? You're the stage manager?"

"And I understudy Jody Mills." Maeve bragged.

"That's great!" Sam replied, trying to make this the lest awkward it could be, "That's great. Jody Mills, that's great. So! How about you give me a... behind the scenes tour, while your director shows my partner Ms. Chandler's office? Deal?"

Maeve nodded.

"Great." Sam replied, "Give us a moment please?"

"Okay." Marie conceded, then she and Maeve walked off.

"So, ah," Sam began, "How much work have you done on this?"

"I already know what it is." Tova replied, "But you can still go back with her if you want, try to figure out how they learned about what I'm guessing is your life."

Maeve lead him into the lights and sound room and Sam started asking her questions. "Now, have you noticed anything strange during the production? I mean, any odd noises, or, huh-"

"You mean something like this?" Maeve asked. She pushed a button and a scream was heard. "Or perhaps, this?" Another button, another weird voice.

"Right." Sam said realizing his mistake, "Of course."

"How about this?" She pushed another button.

"I-I got it." Sam said, "Thanks. You know, back when I did tech in school, we had two CD decks-" He paused when he saw Maeve listening to her headset.

"I'm sorry, I have to go sign a delivery." Maeve explained, "Please don't touch anything."

Sam honored the request for all of two seconds after she left, however he couldn't resist and played with the lights while the actresses playing him and Dean were on stage. "Sorry!"

The girls looked at each other, amused.

"Is this hers?" Tova asked, looking at the robot head she found by a pile of empty bottles she had found in Ms. Chandler's office.

"No!" Marie exclaimed, "That's a prompt from act two! I've been looking for that, actually."

"There's space in Supernatural?" Tova asked, wondering what all Dean had left out.

"Well, not canonically, no." Marie admitted, "But this is transformative fiction."

Tova smirked. "You mean fanfiction?"

"Call it whatever you like, okay?" Marie snapped, "It's inspired by Craver Edlund's works. With a few embellishments. But, Chuck stopped writing after Swan Song. I just-I couldn't leave it the way it was. I mean, Dean not hunting anymore, living with Lisa?! Sam, somehow back from Hell, but not with Dean?! So, I wrote my own ending."

"You wrote your own ending with robots?" Tova asked.

"And spaceships." Marie answered, And ninjas. And then, Dean becomes a woman." When Tova stared at her, she added, "It's just for a few scenes."

"Maybe it's a good thing Dean didn't show up." Tova thought, but said aloud, "Can you tell me a little bit about the series? The cannon series, I mean? It ah, sounds like something my niece in Tel Aviv might like and her birthday's coming up."

"Oh, she'll love it, trust me," Marie said, "So, it starts in 1983 with..."

"So, did that really all happen?" Tova asked later standing next to the nondescript gray car she had rented.

"Did what really happen?" Sam asked.

"Everything from Marie's-very detailed and somewhat opinionated summery of these books?" Tova asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied.

"W-Wow." Tova responded, "Thanks for—saving the world I guess. Sorry you have such bad luck with the ladies." After a beat she added, Do I even wanna know what happened after the books stopped?"

"Probably not." Sam answered, "Assuming Dean didn't already tell you."

"Honestly Dean just gave me the basic information," Tova explained, "That and you weren't talking to him, at least at the time."

"That might explain why I haven't heard of you." Sam thought, then said allowed, "So how did you know my brother anyway?"

"I was chasing what I thought was a Pagan working out of Florida," Tova began, "Turned out to be a Leviathan, which was something I wasn't expecting so it had me dead to rights, just a few seconds away from eating me when in comes Dean with bottle of borax of all things. I mean seriously, according to him the only solution God could come up with was locking them away, and their weakness is cleaning fluid? Kinda of a weaksauce weakness if you ask me. Anyway, after that we get it trapped, interrogate it, then cut the head off and send it to some contact of his."

"And then?" Sam asked, sensing there was more.

"And then we had a-very lovely evening." Tova said awkwardly.

"Of course, of you did." Sam replied.

"And then I caught a case in Lisbon, told him to call me if he ever needed help and I left." Tova finished.

"Lisbon?" Sam asked, "The city? In Portugal?"

"Yep, globe-trotting hunter, that's me," Tova answered.

"So, what you brought you back to the states?" Sam replied.

Opening her car and looking for something, Tova began, "I got an anonymous email saying this case seemed like something that was up my alley. I was suspicious but when I was looking it over I found this." She opened the file the pointed to a small purple flower, "It's called a borage, or sunflower. The muse Calliope is associated with it. According to the lore, she uses manifestations to inspire an author she takes interest in, and protects them until their vision is realized, then she, uh, eats them. Making little Marie in there the tribute _du jour_. When I got here and confirmed that there was in fact an original play being up on, and noticed that the main characters had the same name and characteristics of Dean and, from what he told me, you, I called him."

"But why take Miss Chandler then?" Sam asked.

"Apparently she was going to go to the principal in the morning and get the play shut down." Tova explained.

"So, are we going to tell Marie there's a target on her back?" Sam asked.

"I figure why tell her the facts of life unless we absolutely have to," Tova replied, "I figure we keep an eye on this place, try to spot her manifestation and find where she'd got Miss Chandler stash. That sound good to you?"

"Yeah," Sam replied.

They didn't have long to wait as that night Marie and Maggie, the girl playing Sam, got into a fight.

"Maggie!" Marie was pleading, fallowing the girl outside, "Come on! Please don't do this!"

"Everyone else is willing to follow your little dictatorship." Maggie declared, "But not me. I've been telling you all along Marie, if it's not canon, it shouldn't be the show. You know, we've should've The Outsiders like I told you." Having said her peace, she got on her bike and was ready to leave.

"Just... come back inside!" Marie tried to reason with her, "We can make this work!"

"I'm going to Principle Salazar's in the morning." Maggie said, "Gonna do what Ms. Chandler was too drunk to finish."

At a lost, Marie went back inside. Then she heard Maggie scream. Alarmed, she ran back outside. "Maggie?" Then she saw her friend wrapped in the dark brown tentacles of what appeared to be a monstrous scarecrow, "Maggie!"

Marie ran up to it, but it was too late. Both the monster and Maggie were gone. All that was left was her bike and purple flower.


	15. The Show Must Go On

When Sam and Tova got to Marie and Maeve, the latter was handing the still-stunned a girl a coffee.

"Hey." Sam said.

"Let me guess." Marie began, "You came here to laugh at me, too, right?"

"Why don't you tell me what happened to your friend?" Sam urged.

"Maggie quit the show." Marie explained, "She was trying to get it shut down so we were fighting. The she-she left and I heard her scream. So, I ran outside to help, and...and I saw a scarecrow. It looked just like the one from our show, but...alive."

"Then what?" Tova asked.

"It wrapped her and vines and took her behind the dumpster." Marie answered, "And then they were both just...gone. So, I called the cops, and a bunch of adults just told I have an overactive imagination. But it's all real. Ghost. Angels. Demons."

"I wanna believe." Maeve added gravely.

"You should believe." Sam said, "You both should. 'Cause, it's all real. And so are we. I'm Sam Winchester. And this is Tova, she didn't make it into the books. Dean couldn't make it for this one. Kinda a long story."

The girls looked at Sam and Tova, then at each other. Then they burst out laughing.

"Ok!" Marie got out, "Now look. I'm willing to accept that monsters are real. But those books are works of fiction."

"And you are way too old to be Sam, or Dean." Maeve added.

"Oh yeah!" Marie agreed.

"More like a Bobby/Rufus combo?" Maeve wondered aloud, "Maybe? If, you know, one of them was a woman."

"Ok." Tova said, slightly offended, "Alright, little Miss Sunshine. We are what the books called hunters."

"FBI hunters?" Maeve asked.

"Yeah." Tova replied.

The girls looked at each other. "You guys are _X-Files_."

"Sure." Sam took over, "Yeah, you can say that. So, this scarecrow, from your musical, is it based on the one from the books?"

"No, I changed it." Marie answered, "I got scared of a local legend, when I was kid. There was this creepy old scarecrow, on an abandoned farm, outside of town. Kids use to say, if it caught you, it would take you away."

"Ok." Tova said, "If this scarecrow is based on your version, then Ms. Chandler and Maggie might still be alive."

"You think the scarecrow was created by the play?" Maeve asked.

"Something like that, " Tova said, sitting down next to Marie, "Okay, _sheshta_ , I'm about to tell you something, and it's going to be scary, terrifying, actually, but I need you to stay calm, okay?"

Marie nodded.

And so, Tova explained to the girls exactly what the creature was. Understandably, Marie did _not_ stay calm.

"Ok, that's bad!" She exclaimed, "Um. well! You get your wish. Let's cancel the show."

"That's what your teacher and your classmate did." Sam pointed out, "They tried to shut you down, and the scarecrow took them. Protecting you and the show."

"The only way to stop it is to get Calliope." Tova explained, "But she won't show herself until your...vision is realized."

"So. what are you saying?" Marie asked.

"I'm sorry." Tova said, "The show must go on."

Marie looked terrified, running backstage as she started to go through a panic attack, starting to hyper-ventilate into a paper bag.

"Hey!" Tova started, "Why don't-"

"Why don't you guys rally Marie?" Sam interrupted, "I'm gonna, uh, grab some wooden stakes from the trunk, and do the blessing." Then he hurried away, leaving Tova and Marie with the challenge of calming Marie down.

 _Coward._ Tova thought.

"Is Marie gonna get eaten?" Maeve asked, pulling Tova back to the situation.

"Not gonna happen." Tova assured her, "Soon as the curtain rises, we're gonna be there to take out Calliope." Then she went to check on Marie. "Hey!" She began, walking up to the girl, "Hey. How are you doing, _sheshta_?"

"This...this is all my fault." Marie said, "If I hadn't written this dumb play, none of this would've happened."

"Ok." Tova began, sitting back down next to her, "First of all, the play is not dumb. Possibly evidence in a lawsuit, but not dumb. Secondly, take it from someone who specializes in Pagans, if Calliope hadn't latched onto you, she would've found someone else, some other work. But right now, I need you to believe in your work with all you got. So, we can kill Calliope and we can save your friends. Can you do that?"

"Yeah." Marie replied, "You're right. If Sam and Dean was real, they wouldn't back down from a fight. Especially my sweet, brave, selfless Sam. There's nothing he can't do."

 _Maybe it's a good thing Sam_ _bailed_. Tova thought.

Marie turned to face mirror and sighed. "Ok." She said, "Let's do this. I understudy Sam, so..." She grabbed a dark brown wig, "I used this for my one-woman Orphan Black show, last year. But it's gonna have to work for Sam." She put the wig on her head in a rather dramatic fashion. "Writer. Director. Actor. I'm gonna Barbara Streisand this bitch."


	16. Show Time

It was time for the show. The audience was coming into the auditorium, accepting flyers that were being given to them. Meanwhile behind the scenes, Marie and the hunters were giving the last instruction to the actors before they went on stage.

"Ok!" Marie said, checking on the costumes, "Good. Good. Ok. Good." She turned to Siobhan, the girl who was playing Dean, "Alright. Samulet?"

Siobhan showed off a tan-colored stone that vaguely resembled a bull head hanging from a black string.

"The...samulet?" Tova asked.

"That amulet is a symbol of the Winchesters' brotherly love." Marie explained.

 _I'm not even gonna ask._ Tova thought, _Sam's been through enough._

Just then Sam came in with two wooden stakes. "Hey," He said handing one of the stakes to Tova, then looked appreciatively at the actresses, now in their costumes.

"Ok." Tova said.

"Pretty good!" Sam observed, "Wait a second...where's Chuck?"

"Oh!" Marie began awkwardly, "I-I love him. I do! But honestly, the whole author introducing himself into the narrative thing, it's just not my favorite. I kind of hate the meta stories."

"Me too." Sam agreed. _You have no idea._

"Alright, listen up, girls!" Tova began, stepping forward into the middle of the group, "Now, you're all here because you love _Supernatural._ "

"Actually, I was hoping we'd do _Wicked_. " The actress playing Mary spoke up.

"Yeah, that'd have been easier." Tova conceded, " I know we have expressed some differences of opinion, regarding this particular version of _Supernatural._ But tonight, it is all about Marie's vision. This is Marie's _Supernatural_. So, I want you to get out there, and I want you to stand as close as she wants you to, and I want you to put as much sub into that text as you possibly can! There is no other road. No other way. No day, but today."

"Did she just quote Rent?" Maeve asked.

"Not enough to get us in troubles." Marie replied.

"Now you get out there and you kick in the ass!" Tova exclaimed, leaping in the air a bit.

Sam smiled a bit. He could see why Dean had liked this girl.

"Alright!" Kristen, the girl playing Castiel exclaimed, roused by the speech.

"Bring it in!" Marie ordered.

The girls got together. As the broke up they all exclaimed, "Ghoooot-facerssssss!"

Tova and Sam looked at each other.

Marie walked out on the sage to introduce the show. "Good evening, everybody!" She began, trying to keep it together, "Welcome to our production of _Supernatural_. I'm not gonna lie. It might be a full-on Gallagher show opening up this piece. Uh, so, those of you in the front rows may want to use the ponchos we provided for you, under your seats. You may, in fact, get wet on this ride."

While Marie talked, Sam gave Tova an ok sign, indicating that he was ready for when the scarecrow showed.

Marie was still going. "Um, I would like to think to thank the, uh, cast and crew-"

"Okay, she's stalling." Tova declared, "Let's do this."

"Copy that." Maeve replied, "Curtain, kids. It's show time."

The music started, interrupting Marie and making some members of the audience laugh. Seeing there was no more putting this off, she said, "Ok, um...And-and, that, concludes out introduction for tonight. So, everybody sits back, relax, and enjoy the show."

The music for the opening song started to play.

"Everyone in place?" Maeve asked.

And with that Shibon began to sing.

 _John, and Mary, husband and wife._

 _Bringing home a brand-new life,_

 _His name is Sammy._

 _I'm big brother, Dean._

 _The perfect family,_

 _Or so it seemed._

While the saw went on Sam searched for the scarecrow. He noticed a thin, feminine shadow dancing from behind a screen, and thinking it might be Calliope or the scarecrow, went to investigate.

 _The demon's visits had begun_

 _It believed Sam was the Chosen One_

 _It burned my mother,_

 _And it cursed my brother._

Sam rushed on the creature, only to find a girl covered in blue paint. "Sorry," He said quickly, going back to his search.

 _Leaving us all in tears._

Meanwhile, Tova was slightly distracted, moving her head to song, which, she had to admit, was kind of catchy. Then she noticed the scarecrow behind Sam.

 _On the road, so far._

 _Yeah, the road so far._

 _We are in Dad's car._

Tova waved her arms around, trying to warn him. Sam, not understanding, just gave her a thumb up. She finally shouted, "Turn around!"

Sam turned around and faced the scarecrow.

Blissfully unaware to the goings on backstage, save Marie, the show continued.

 _On the road, so far!_

 _Dad was driven, no turning back._

 _He would stop without the payback._

 _He trained us both to train, and hunt, and kill_

 _He took away our own free will._

Tova rushed backstage to try to help Sam, but it was too late. Marie saw Sam disappear with the scarecrow, but forced herself to keep her cool as the song continued.

 _So that's where we are_

 _On the road, so far._

 _Saving people, hunting things, family business_

 _Back in swing_

 _Driving down the road so far._

As the first seen ended, Tova had realized that Sam had disappeared.

They were both on their own.

When Sam awoke he found Maggie and Ms. Chandler staring down at him, looking worried. "Agent Smith?" The school girl asked.

"Where the Hell are we?" Sam asked.

"School's basement." Maggie answered, "The scarecrow brought us down here."

Sam got up and went for the door, as any reasonable person would. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Yeah, I tried that days ago." Ms. Chandler informed him.

"So, what?" Sam asked, "We're stuck here?"

As if on cue, a woman with curly light brown hair dressed in a pale purple toga-like dress appeared out of nowhere. Sam assumed this was Calliope. "That's right." Calliope said, "You're gonna miss the big show."

Sam walked towards Calliope, steak in hand, but the goddess used her powers to pin him to the door.

Meanwhile, the show kept playing.

On stage as Dean Siobhan was talking into a fake phone, saying, "Ok. So, you can pop in tomorrow morning."

"Yes." Her girlfriend Kristen, who by chance was playing Castiel replied into her fake phone, "I'll just-wait here then."

As the song started to play, Tova ran behind the back-drop and found Marie, who-perhaps understandably - looked worried.

"What do we do now?" Marie asked.

"Just, stick to the plan, okay?" Tova urged, "Keep singing, until the scarecrow comes for you."

Still unaware of what was going on back stage, Kristen started to sing.

 _I'll just wait here then,_

 _That's what our do._

 _I'll just wait here there,_

 _Wait for my cue._

 _I raised you from perdition_

 _To be God's ammunition_

 _But now, you need your rest._

 _So, I will do what's best._

 _I'll just wait here then,_

 _That's what I'll do._

 _I'll just wait here, then_

 _Wait here for you._

The end of the song was greeted with applause.

"Well", Tova commented, "It rhymed."

Back in the basement, Calliope was continuing her villain rant. Why did they always have a villain rant?

"I've consumed many authors," She was saying, "Many stories. But tonight, as soon as that curtain opened, I knew something special was brewing with this one. Maybe it's because the story's actual inspiration's here. I'm guess I'm going to have to kill you to find out."

"Don't you have to wait, until the vision is realized?" Sam reminded her.

Calliope smirked. "Oh, gods! If I have to sit through that second act, one more time...There's robots and tentacles and space. I can't even."

Apparently, there was so much even a goddess could take.

Meanwhile it was time for Marie to go on the stage and sing. Tova was keeping an eye on her, waiting for the scarecrow.

"A single man tears slipped down his face." The girl began.

 _Lord Heaven help us_. Tova thought.

 _He shows emotion without a trace_

 _He hides behind a mask so strong_

 _Worried that he could be so wrong_

 _This is why the idea people should not be given the keys to the whole thing_. Tova lamented to herself.

 _I wish that he could see the way I see him_

 _The perfect brother, a man without sin_

 _'Cause underneath, the manly sheen_

 _He's my brother, a boy named Dean_

 _A single man tear, a single man tear, a single man tear_

 _That's all we fear._

While Siobhan started to sing her part, the scarecrow appeared. "There is a God," Tova whispered under her breath before jumping on the thing, forgetting she was on stage, right in front of the audience.

Siobhan, to her credit, just kept sing, doing her best to appear unphased _. "A single man tear, that's all I'll_ _spare."_

"Ok!" Maeve said behind stage, the epidemy of clam urgency, "We're through the looking glass here, people. Strike the windego set, prep the priest's costumes. And Sarah? Get the understudies into hair and makeup."

While Tova was fighting the scarecrow, Sam was making Calliope talk.

"So, why this story, huh?" He asked, part stalling for time, part genuinely curious, "Why, uh, Supernatural?"

"Supernatural has everything." Calliope explained, "Life. Death. Resurrection. Redemption. But above all, family. All sorts of music you can really tap your toes to, too. It isn't some meandering piece of genre dreck. It's...epic!"

Sam didn't know rather to be flattered or horrified.

Tova was fighting the scarecrow on stage with all her might and military training.

All the while Siobhan kept singing. _"But underneath that broken mask, it is my father with all his wrath."_

 _Gotta give the girl credit_ , Tova thought as she struggled with the scarecrow _, not much phases her._

Seeing where this might lead, an audience member took out his poncho and put it on.

Back in the basement, Calliope was still going. "And that...well! That is my bag of tea."

"Bag this!" Maggie shouted, hitting the muse over the head with a book. Surprisingly enough it worked.

Ms. Chandler gave Sam back his lost stake.

On stage, the fight had taken a turn and things weren't going so well for Tova. The scarecrow threw her away, and started walking towards Marie. Thinking fast the girl picked up the stake and charged the monster screaming, "No chick flick moments!"

At the same time Sam stabbed Calliope, Marie stabbed the scarecrow.

For a moment, it seemed as if the scarecrow would fall on the people in the front rows. But then in the basement, Calliope exploded into something not unlike her sigincure flower, causing the scarecrow to do the same, spilling purple goo onto the audience. Silence also fell onto the audience. Then, the man who had the foresight to put his poncho on, assuming this was merely part of show, stood up and applauded, followed by the whole audience. Marie smiled, surprised and satisfied.

"Take a bow, _sheshta_." Tova whispered.

While the audience gave them a standing ovation Marie, Siobhan and Tova took a bow. Then the curtain closed for intermission.


	17. Sam's Family

After cleaning up from Calliope's explosion, and getting Maggie and Ms. Chandler to safety, Sam went backstage and ran into Maeve again.

"Usually, this is the part when Sam and Dean take off, before anyone asks any questions." Maeve informed him.

"That's probably a good idea." Sam agreed.

"Thanks for saving my friends." Maeve said.

"Sure." Sam replied.

"You know, if you'd cut your hair a little, you'd make a pretty good Dean." Maeve complimented.

"Thanks." Sam replied, not really sure how to take that.

Meanwhile, Tova was saying goodbye to Marie.

"Well, you did good out there, kid." Tova told her.

"Hmm, not so bad yourself." Marie replied.

"And you're play's not half bad either." Tova continued, "Keep writing, Shakespeare."

"Really?" Marie responded, "Because I got the impression you thought this was all kind of weird."

"No weirder than _Repo_ ," Tova replied, "Or the two times they tried to turn _Carrie_ into a musical. And the second time without any blood. And it's definitely better than the two times they tried Lolita."

The lights started to flicker.

"One minute, folks." Maeve called, "One minute."

"Ok." Tova said, "Looks like you have to go."

"I do." Marie said, pulling out the necklace Siobhan had been wearing during the first act, "Can you give this Sam? Tell him Dean never should've thrown this away."

Tova took the strange necklace saying awkwardly, "Yeah, sure. I'll be sure to."

She met up with Sam backstage; Tova gave him the necklace and told him what Marie had said.

"It never really worked." Sam commented, running a thumb over the stone, "And neither of us needs a reminder of how we feel about each other." He put it his pocket anyway. Maybe the boys would want to play with it.

The pair turned back to the stage to find the Marie and Siobhan in the fake car. "We need to get back on the road, Dean." Marie was saying, "Doing what we do best."

"What is that?" Sam asked, pointing at the scene.

"It's just..." Siobhan was saying, "I don't know anymore."

"It's the, uh..."Tova began, thinking of a way to explain it to him, "The B. M. scene."

"Saving people, hunting things." Marie recapped on stage, "You know? The family business."

"The...bowel movement scene?" Sam wondered.

"Boy melodrama." Tova corrected, "I might have some more questions for you later."

"You're right, Sammy." Siobhan was saying, "Out on the road. Just the two of us."

"The two of us against the world." Marie added.

"I'm gonna miss that." Sam admitted under his breath. He knew that Dean as he knew him was gone, but something about this just really brought it home for him. That he was going to have to get use to hunts without Dean.

"Going to miss what?" Tova asked, catching what he had said.

"Nothing." Sam covered quickly.

Just then the actress playing Mary came onto the stage. "Carry on my wayward son," She began in clear, pure, voice, "There'll be peace when you are done."

Tova looked over to her fellow hunter. "Sam, Dean is alright, isn't he?" She asked, "He's alive?"

"Oh, yeah, of course." Sam said, though he wasn't sure anymore. Sure, Dean was alive, but it wasn't the Dean he knew. His brother, his son was clean slate. He could become a completely different person.

The actress playing John joined her fake wife onstage, joining her in song, "Lay your weary head to rest, don't you cry no more."

The actresses playing Bobby, rising from his chair, Marie, Shibon, and an actress playing someone they didn't recognize, joined as well.

 _Once I rose above the noise and confusion_

 _Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion_

 _I was soaring ever higher_

"Who's that?" Sam wondered aloud.

"Oh, that's Adam." Maeve answered, "John Winchester's other kid."

On stage they were singing, "But I flew too high..."

"He's still trapped in the cage in Hell." Maeve continued, "With Lucifer."

Tova shot Sam a harsh questioning look to which Sam looked abashed. He had kind of forgot about Adam. They really had to deal with that one day. At least he would have to.

The girls kept sing, "Masquerading as a man with a reason..."

 _My charade is the event of the season_

 _And if I claim to be a wise man_

 _It surely means that I don't know_

 _Carry on my wayward son_

 _They'll be peace when you are done_

 _Lay your weary head to rest_

 _Don't you cry no more_

 _Carry on_

Suddenly Sam really understood how the song really made since for his and Dean's life. No matter what happened, demons, the apocalypse, everything that came after, they carried on. And they'd keep carrying on, him, Dean, Hannah, Castiel, all of them. Together.

The light faded while the audience applauded a proud smile on Marie's face.

After saying his goodbyes to Tova, Sam walked to his car, taking out his phone and dialing home.

"Hey," Hannah said, when she picked up on the other hand, "How's the case going?"

"Actually, we just finished." Sam replied, getting into the car.

"And you found out who this Tova woman is?" Hannah asked.

"She's a hunter from Israel." Sam answered, "Dean met her when we were having a falling out, that's why I didn't know about her."

"What was Dean doing in Israel?" Hannah asked.

"She was in America." Sam corrected.

"Oh." Hannah responded, "What was she doing back here?"

"It's kind of a long story." He said, getting into the car, "I'll tell you everything when I get home." He hung the face amulet from the rearview mirror. "And don't tell them, but I have something for the boys."

Then he drove off for home.

Meanwhile, Marie was busy receiving compliment from the audience when an excited Maeve came running up to her.

"Oh!" Marie responded, startled, then addressing the person she had been talking to, "Bye! Sorry, thank you!"

"That ticket you left for the publisher?" Maeve began, barely able to contain herself as the person walked away, "Some claimed it!"

Marie looked up to see who had claimed and when she saw them was utterly shocked. "Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed, "But wait…That means that-Calliope came for me or for-?"

"Who cares?" Maeve cut her off, "Go, fangirl!"

Marie gave the flowers she was holding to Maeve and ran up the stairs to the man who came for her. "Hum…Hi!" She began, slightly overwhelmed, "Thank you…so much coming! Uh…I know the second act is a bit wanky, and the first act has some issues, but…What did you think?"

Chuck Shurly saluted Marie with a kind smile. "Not bad."

 **AN: I actually highly recommend the 2012 version of "Carrie" the musical. The soundtrack is amazing.**


	18. Sick Day

It all started when Hannah went to get the boys up. "It's time to get up, little ones." She said, shaking them awake.

Cas jumped out of bed, giving his wings a little flap, but Dean just laid in his bed making a little moan.

Concerned, as Dean rarely even needed to be told to get out of bed, Hannah came over to him. "Mommy, I don't feel good." He moaned.

Hannah pulled back the blanket, her hand brushing against Dean's skin as she did so. That when she noticed how hot he was. She felt on his forehead. He was really hot. While she wasn't an expert, she didn't think this was normal. "Dean, can you sit up for me, honey?"

Dean did and she began to look him over, noticing something under his pajama top. She pulled it back and saw a red rash on his chest. "What the- "She began, then called out, "Sam!"

Hearing her, Sam was hurrying down the hall when his phone went off. In spite of himself, he took it out of his pocket, and checked the caller ID before answering. "This isn't really a good time now, Reason."

"I think I know why." Reason said in a raspy voice.

Sam froze. "Why do you sound like that?"

"I have the measeals." Reason answered, "So does Maudie. I'm not sure when we got it, but I though you needed to because your little guys aren't old enough to be vaccinated yet, and we've both been around…"

"Sam!" Hannah screamed again, "I need you!"

"I gotta go." Sam said, "I'll let you know what's going on when I know more."

"Okay." Reason replied, "For the record I really hope I'm wrong about this."

"Me, too." Sam agreed, before hanging up.

When he got down the hall Hannah on her knees in front of Dean, who was sitting up in his bed. Hannah motioned for Sam to come closer. Sam did, crouching to get a good look at Dean.

"He's burning up and he's got a rash on his chest." Hannah explained.

He pulled back Dean's pajama and saw that she was said true. "Crap." He murmured.

"What?" Hannah asked, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Reason just called to say she and her kid have measles." Sam explained, before picking Dean up, "So it looks like we're going to need to go on a little trip."

After quickly getting the boys into clothes, they headed to nearest walk-in clinic.

They were sitting side by side in green wood-and-cloth chairs a miserable Dean curled up in Hannah's lap who had one eye on Dean, the other eye on Cas, who was perfectly fine and playing with a train set in the center of the lobby.

"Why is this taking so long?" Hannah asked, starting to get frustrated.

"I don't know." Sam whispered back, "Hopefully they can get to us soon." In truth, Sam started to get frustrated as well. Probably because his child was over there suffering and there was nothing he could do about it.

Just then the nurse stepped out and called out, "Dean Winchester?"

"That's us." Sam said, standing up before leaning over and picking up Dean, "You should probably stay here with Cas. Otherwise it'll be pretty crowded."

"Are you sure?" Hannah asked, unwilling to abandon her ailing trail.

"Trust me." Sam replied, "Those rooms are too small for all of us and," He gestured towards Cas, "We can't exactly leave him alone." And the he walked up to join the nurse.

They had to wait again in the doctor's room, Sam sitting in a chair and Dean on a paper-covered table.

"Daddy, I'se don't like it here." Dean whimpered, "I wanna go home."

"I know, buddy." Sam replied, "But we have wait for the doctor to see you so we can figure out why you don't feel good and make you feel better."

Just the door opened and gaunt woman with wispy dirty blonde hair walked in. "I'm Dr. Sinclair." The woman said, walking up to the table, "And this handsome fellow must be Dean. Can you tell me how you're feeling?"

"Crummy." Dean moaned.

"About the time we found him like this a friend called." Sam spoke up, "Said she and her daughter had measles. And he's got a rash on his chest."

Dr. Sinclair pulled back Dean's shirt. "Do you know if your friend was infected when they were around your son?"

"I don't know." Sam answered, "I'm sorry."

"That's okay." Dr. Sinclair replied, "Let's just get your little guy checked out."

Dr. Sinclair went through her examination and ran a couple of tests, before declaring that Dean did in fact, have measles.

"It's uncomplicated," She said, going for her prescription pad, "So the best thing for him now is rest. I'm writing a prescription to treat the cough, use ibuprofen or acetaminophen for the fever, and if he gets worst, call me." She handed him the prescription.

"Thank you." Sam said, taking the prescription and picking up Dean.

"And you might want to get his brother checked out as well." Dr. Sinclair advised.

"I don't thank will be necessary." Sam replied, "Cas is completely fine." And a check-up would definitely uncover his wings.

"It incubates for 10 days." Dr. Sinclair responded, "Better safe than sorry."

"You're right." Sam said, as she would be under normal circumstances, "I'll make an appointment with our regular doctor." He was lying through teeth, but he couldn't exactly say, 'Our other son isn't human and therefore less likely to get sick.'

Five minutes later Sam stepped into a local pharmacy.

He was about to ask the cashier at the front counter where to fill a prescription when he saw a large pharmacy set-up in the back. He walked up to in blading man in a white coat and handed the paper to him saying, "I need to get this filled."

The man looked at the paper then said, "This is going to take about thirty minutes."

"What?" Sam said looking around, "There's no one even here."

"Actually, I got two people ahead of you." The man said, pointing to a bench where a muscular man with grey hair and a girl in black hooded jacket were sitting.

"Come on, Mister, I got a sick kid at home, is there any way you could…I don't know, speed it up?" Sam requested.

"I'm sorry." The pharmacist replied, "Really I am, but this is the best I can do."

"Okay." Sam sighed, going to the bench and setting down next to the girl.

The girl looked up at him through dark bangs, "Hey."

"Hey." Sam replied. He wasn't really in the mood for talking, but that wasn't her fault.

"Your kid's sick?" She asked.

"Yeah." Sam confirmed, "The measles."

"Well, that's horrible." The girl replied.

"Dean, that's my son who's sick, woke up with a fever and a rash this morning and then our friend calls- "Sam began, then remembered something he forgot to do, "Oh, crap!"

"What?" The young woman said, genuinely concerned.

"My friend and her kid got the measles first." Sam explained, pulling out his phone, "She asked me to call her when we figured out what was going on and I didn't."

He listened to the dial tone for a few moments then Reason, still sounding sick said, "Sam, that you?"

"Yeah." Sam replied, "Dean has measles.

"Oh my gosh." Reason gasped, "Sam, I am so, so, sorry."

"It's alright." Sam said quickly, "It's not like you meant to do it. You didn't know Maudie and you were sick."

"I know, but- "Reason began.

"But nothing." Sam cut her off, "For all we know Dean gave it to you. By the way, how are you two doing?"

"Yeah, we're fine, Serena's taking care of us." Reason rasped.

"Speaking of which, you should not be on the phone in your condition." Serena Joy called out.

"I gotta go." Reason said, "Good luck."

"You, too." Sam said, hanging up.

Sam decided that as long as he was there he would do some shopping. He got some cough drops, toilet paper, because they were low, chicken soup for Dean, and ice cream, since it was rough to sick and the kid deserved a treat. By the time he was finished, the proscription was ready.

"I'm back." Sam called out, sitting the grocies on the table, "Where are you guys?"

"Here, Daddy!" Dean shouted, running into the main room and slamming against his father's leg.

"Dean, buddy, what are you doing up?" Sam said, prying the little boy off him, then he realized he no longer have a fever anymore, and his rash was gone. In fact, Dean was now perfectly happy.

"Hannah!" Sam shouted.

The angel appeared, along with their other child. "Yes?" She asked.

"Our son seems to be miraculously cured." Sam observed, "Care to explain?"

"That's because I healed him." Hannah admitted, and in response to Sam's stare added, "What was I supposed to do? Just let him suffer?"

"I guess not." Sam relented, "But couldn't you called me to let you know you were doing it so I don't spend half an hour to buy a forty-dollar bottle of pills we don't need?"

Hannah knew he was right. "I'm sorry." She said, "I didn't think of that."

"Let's just use it as a learning experience." Sam replied, picking up the groceries again when a thought occurred to him. "Hey, do you think you could do it again?"

That was how they wound up at Reason's trailer, standing over a bed containing two very miserable blondes.

"Is this okay?" Reasoned asked, "There's no rules against healing trivial issues, or healing friends…"

"That's-never really come up before." Hannah responded, "And this isn't a trivial issue. Humans have died from this before."

"Okay." Reason said, picking up her child and positioning her in front of Hannah, "Maudie goes first."

Hannah places a hand on Maudie's chest and soon the rash was gone. Maudie looked surprise. "I don't feel yucky no more."

"That's because of Miss Hannah." Reason explained, "Now what do you say?"

"Are you magic?" Maudie responded, excited.

Hannah looked confused, like she didn't know how to respond.

"Something like that." Sam intervened, "But it has to be secret, okay?"

"Okay." Maudie agreed, still bouncing on the bed.

"And what I was looking for was thank you." Reason interjected, "You say thank you."

"Fank you." Maudie beamed, leaping at Hannah and getting the angel in hug.

"You're welcome." Hannah replied, gently prying the toddler off her, "Now let me fix Mommy."

Maudie slid off the bed and Hannah approached Reason, putting a hand on her chest. Soon the young mother looked much better as well.

"Oh, that's so much better." Reason breathed, "Thank you, thank you so much. You're officially my favorite angel."

"I'm the only angel you know." Hannah pointed out.

"Just take the compliment." Serena Joy spoke up.

Later, the kids were at the bench, digging into bowels of chocolate ice cream.

"Thanks for sharing Sam." Reason said from the side-lines her own smaller bowel in her hands.

"Well, I had to do something with it." Sam replied, then turning Hannah asked, "You sure you don't want any?"

"No, it's fine." Hannah insisted, "I don't need to eat."

"No one needs to eat it, it's ice cream." Sam pointed out, "Here, at least try some of mine."

Sam took a generous spoonful and shoved it in Hannah's direction. She opened her mouth and he put the spoon inside, and her mouth filled with a cool, sweet chocolate taste.

"Oh." She exclaimed softly, "Oh, that's-that-s nice."

"So, does that mean I need to get you a bowel?" Sam asked.

"No, I'm fine." Hannah replied, then after a moment, added, "Well, maybe a small one."

"Should we tell them what this look like?" Serena Joy whispered to her friend.

"No." Reason replied, "They'll figure it out on their own if they need to."


	19. Sink The Cheerios

**AN: Sorry I didn't update last week. I had some unexpected troubles that kept me from it. Thank the Lord God Almighty for getting me through it and letting me update this week.**

Dean kicked his legs as he sat on the toilet. "Mommy, I'm done."

"A few more minutes, sweetie." Hannah called from her place outside the bathroom door. From what she and Sam had read the boys needed to just sit on the toilet for fifteen minutes.

They had been trying to potty train the boys since a week after they were deaged. So far, they had hit and misses, but they were relatively still on track. Dean told them when he had to go. Sometimes they made it and sometimes they didn't. That was when the pull ups were a blessing.

Castiel, however, was another story.

Ever since turning in the child, he had been timid and shy, even easily frightened at times. Even with the seat he refused to sit on the toilet, afraid it would sallow him whole. He was also afraid of the flushing noise.

"Okay, buddy," Sam said one day, "We're gonna try something a little different." He crouched down and began to help Cas unbutton.

"No!" Cas declared, "Pull up!"

"Trust be buddy, this is better than a pull up." Sam assured him, "At least for peeing."

Being two, Cas couldn't really aim well, and managed to spray his pee all the way across the wall.

"Well, that was a complete disaster." Sam declared, scrubbing the wall.

"It was worth a try." Hannah assured, as she put her sponge in the water. She took the sponge out and put it on the wall, thinking, "Maybe we should ask Jody. I mean, she's…toilet trained a boy before."

"Maybe," Sam responded, rubbing his forehead with his arm, "I just…I'm always weary about asking her stuff because I don't like bringing up possibly painful memories for her.

"Well, then maybe we can ask Reason." Hannah suggested, "She must have toilet trained Maudie, or be in the process or toilet training her."

Sam sighed. "I guess it couldn't hurt." He was just that desperate. Dean had been doing so well that it gave him the false impression that they were actually good at toilet training. Cas was quickly disproving the assumption and Sam was fearing that he was never going to sit on the toilet.

After they hand finished, Sam put in a call to Reason, only he couldn't get a hold of her. After a few more tries he started to get worried. "Hey, Hannah," He called out, "I can't get a hold of Reason, so I'm gonna drive around and look for her. "

"Okay." Hannah agreed, "Let me know if you need help."

"Hopefully I won't." Sam called back before walking out the door.

The first place Sam went was her trailer. As he got out of the car everything was eerily quiet. It scared him, actually. The place was just remote enough for something to happen and no one know.

Sam knocked on the door, calling out, "Reason?! Reason, it's Sam! You in there?!" He peeked in the window and found the house empty.

He walked up to the check and undid the make shift lock and found no one there.

Okay, Sam, calm down, He told himself, she might just be at work. Right, she's probably at work.

When he got to The Hot Spot, he was greeted by the smell of blech and vinegar combined with cooking food, and some women he never heard before crooning overhead, _Well, we all say that we'll quit someday. When our ship comes in, we'll just sail away…_ He looked around and the first person he saw was a waitress who was about sixteen, wiping down a table.

"Hey, ah, Edith, right?" Sam spoke up, getting the girl attention.

The girl raised her head up. "Yeah, can I help you?"

"Ah, I'm looking for Reason, or Serena Joy, are, ah, either of them here?" Sam asked.

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Why do you want to know?"

That was when Serena Joy saw them and hurried over, saying, "It's alright, Edith, he's a friendly." Leading him away, he whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Reason, I can't reach her on her cell." Sam answered, "Is she here?"

"In the men's room." Serena Joy answered, "There was an—an incident." After a beat she added, "So, where's the fire?"

Sam suddenly started a staring contest with a tile that had the edges standing up like burnt toast, as a pit of guilt formed in stomach. "There's not really a—fire. I wanted to ask her something and when I couldn't reach her I got concerned. In hindsight I probably over-reacted a bit."

"Well, you're here now." Serena Joy reasoned, "Men's room's that way."

And so, Sam told Reason everything while she cleaned vomit out of urinal, which made Sam feel even guiltier about accidently bothering her at work.

"Sorry, Sam," Reason said, continuing to clean out the urinal as she talked, "I'm as lost when it comes to potty training as you are. Spent a good hour picking out a tiny purple step stool and potty seat and she hasn't used it yet. Why do you think my daycare consists of camping her out by the pinball machine when Jerry will let me and praying that Serena's off when one of the other cooks are on duty?"

"What does that have to do with—" Sam began.

"Most preschools and half the daycares that don't take infants require kids to be dry all day." Reason explained, "And I can't really afford day care anyway."

Suddenly Sam knew what he had to do. "Hey, Reason, how would you feel about me taking Maudie until you get off?"

"Sam," Reason began, "I don't want to impose on you like that."

"Reason, it's not an imposition." Sam insisted, "The boys love her, and …I don't mean to be rude, but you can't really keep a good eye on her like this."

Reason knew he had a point. "I have to be at Rawls tonight so I might not be able to get her until nine." Reason warned him, "Maybe later."

"It's okay." Sam replied, "So?"

Reason paused for a minute in thought. "Give me a minute to finish this, so I can go get her."

Maudie was sitting underneath the scuffed-up _X-Files_ pinball machine drawing, her faithful seal at her side when Reason came over to her with Sam. "Hey, baby." She greeted her, crouching down.

Maudie looked up, her face falling in confusion when she saw him. "What he doing here?"

"You're gonna go with Mr. Sam and play with Dean and Cas today." Reason explained, "Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"No," Maudie moaned, her little hands wrapping around Reason's jacket, "No, I wanna stay with you."

"I know." Reason replied, stroking her hair, "But this really isn't the best place for you baby. And it'll just be for a little while."

"Wanna stay with you!" Maudie protested louder, tears welling up in her eyes and it was pretty clear that they were heading for a tantrum.

"Maudie," Reason whispered anxiously, "Maudie, clam down. You're getting worked up for nothing." She knew that was probably a bit over the girl's head, but she had never really figured out how to handle tantrums well.

"Wanna stay with you!" Maudie protested, screaming now, tears streaming down her face and stamping her foot.

"Mind if I tried something?" Sam asked very carefully. Reason was clearly overwhelmed, but he didn't want to step on any toes.

"If you can stop this, please." Reason pleaded.

Sam leaned down, hopping it wasn't too late for this strategy. "Hey, Maudie," He said, "That's a nice picture you got here." It actually just looked like a bunch of blue and purple squiggles. "What is it?"

Maudie looked up at him. "It's a woods." She sniffled.

"Woods," Sam repeated, "Yeah, yeah, I see that now. It's a really awesome wood."

She lit up a bit. "You really fink so?"

"Yeah, yeah, I really think so." Sam confirmed.

Maudie was clam enough at that point that Reason was able to hand her over. "Just give me a second to get her stuff." Reason requested, gathering the drawing materials and the seal, handing the latter to Maudie and stuffing the former in a Peter Rabbit diaper bag before handing it to Sam. "Her launch is in there, but she hasn't eaten yet—which probably explains the near tantrum." Her cheeks got red.

"Don't worry about it, we'll feed her." Sam assured her, taking the bag.

"Oh, and that seal's currently her favorite toy, but her others are in the bag." Reason continued, "And when it comes time for nap if she has trouble going down her favorite lullaby is 'When the Saints'. Not the one you're thinking of, the one by Sara Grooves. Also, Twyla Paris' 'The Warrior is A Child' will do the trick, too. Also, oddly enough most stuff by Switchfoot. And please remember, that all I got is a junk rabbit ears set that only gets the basic of basic channels so—please don't show her anything I can't give her." After a beat she said, "I'm so sorry, I know I must sound absolutely nuts to you."

"It's okay, I get it." Sam replied, "I got your most important person here."

"And again, thank you," Reason told him, "Thank you so much for doing this, Sam."

"It's no problem." Sam told her, before whispering into Maudie's hairline, "Say goodbye to Mommy."

"Don't wanna say goodbye." Maudie insisted, yet burying her head deeper into Sam's side.

"I know," Reason responded, stroking the side of Maudie' s face, "I don't want to say goodbye either, but we need food, and Sam's legs are probably getting tired." She kissed her on the forehead saying, "I love you. Be good, okay?"

"Okay." Maudie agreed before Sam headed out the door with her.

Maudie's mood didn't improve that much until they got to the bunker, where Hannah was waiting with the boys. She instantly brightened when she saw her friends. "DeanCas!" She squealed, combining their names, and struggling to get down from Sam's hold. Sam sat her down and she ran to them, attacking both with a hug.

While the children ate lunch, Sam gave in and called Jody.

Jody Mills was at her desk when her phone rang. He checked the caller ID then picked it up. "Hey, Sam." she greeted him.

"Hey, Jody, "Sam began, "Are you busy?"

"Just doing some paper work." Jody answered, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just—" Sam began, his voice trailing off, "I hate to do this you Jody, but I need some advice."

And so, Sam explained the situation with Castiel and potty training.

"Trust me Sam, boys are harder to potty train then girls 9 times out of ten." Jody assured him, "Have you tried playing sink the Cheerios?"

"What?" Sam responded.

"You get some Cheerios and pour them in the toilet and tell Cas to hit them." Jody explained, "If you don't have any Cheerios, it can become sink the cue tip, or if you're really desperate, sink the square of toilet paper, but smaller targets are better."

"It's worth a shot." Sam reasoned, "Thanks Jody."

"No problem," Jody replied, "And Sam, next time, just call me first please? It's sweet of you to worry about—you know, but you can come to me. Really."

"I'll remember that." Sam told her sincerely.

After launch, it was time for everybody under five feet to take a nap. Sam was laying out a pallet for Maudie, who refused the offer of a bed in another room, he saw Cas bouching lightly up and down, and he knew what was about to happen.

"Hey, Hannah, mine taking of this while I take Cas to the bathroom?" Sam asked.

"Of course." Hannah told him.

"No." Castiel protested, "Pull up."

"Trust me, buddy, I got an idea that will make this time go a whole lot better." Sam assured him.

Taking the box of Cheerios from the kitchen Sam put a handful into the toilet bowel.

"Daddy why you put the Os in the potty?" Cas asked, confused.

"Because," Sam began, "I need you, to sink," he pointed to the toilet, "Those Cheerios by—" Sam couldn't believe what he was about to say, "Peeing on them."

Cas looked at him, utterly baffled.

"Look, these will help you aim," Sam explained.

The little angel still appeared dubious about their whole endeavor, but still fumbled with the buttons on his pants. "I think I need help."

Ten minutes Cas had managed to sink about half the Cheerios, a somewhat over enthusiasm Sam cheering him on the whole time.

"That was great little man." Sam told Cas as he helped the toddler with his pants button, "You're a natural at this."

Cas beamed, happy his daddy was proud of him. He kept beaming even as Sam flushed, and they washed their hands.

"Alright, buddy," Sam began, picking Cas up, "Time for a nap."

Cas didn't have to be told twice. He was already asleep they time Sam was halfway to the room. That was when he heard the singing, " _And when I'm weary, and overwrought, with so many battles left unfought…"_

What the-? Sam thought, peaking in his head in to see Hannah kneeling between Dean's bed and Maudie's pallet. It was Hannah that was singing. " _I think of Paul and Silas in the person yard, I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars. I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaoh's court, I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord. And when the Saints go marching in…_ " Her voice tailed off when she saw Sam and she got to her feet.

"Nice singing." Sam complimented.

"Thanks, you." Hannah replied, "I never heard of the song before I had to look up the lyrics." Putting up her phone she asked, "How is he?"

"Out like a light." Sam answered, laying Cas in his bed, "Jody's idea actually worked great."

"What exactly did she tell you to do?" Hannah asked, "In case I need it later when you're not around."

"Have you ever heard of 'sink the Cheerios'?" Sam asked.

"I think we both know I haven't." Hannah replied.

"Well, "Sam began, "Apparently…"


	20. The First Thanksgiving

_Man, this is harder than I thought_. Sam thought, reading the cooking directions, Maybe fried chicken's not so bad after all.

It was Thanksgiving, and they were planning on meeting their friends at the park, but somehow, they had gotten tasked with preparing the star of the show. A task that Sam was feeling was rather hopeless.

"Everything okay in here?" A concerned voice asked.

Sam turned around and saw Hannah standing in the kitchen doorway, her brow furred.

"Yeah," Sam answered, "It's just cooking this bird might just be one of the greatest challenges of my life."

"That has to be some sort of exaggeration." Hannah replied, walking in.

"It is." Sam admitted, putting the directions down, "But it's still frustrating as Hell."

Hannah looked the turkey over. "The kids are down for the night. I'm sure between the two of us we can figure this out.

Figuring it out, turned out to be making a run to the deli the next morning and buying a whole smoked turkey from the display.

They walked up to the picnic area where Reason and Maudie were already waiting for them, Sam cheeks flushing in embarrassment. "I still think that maybe we should've tried to heat it up." Sam whispered.

"We already messed up one turkey." Hannah reasoned, "And besides, it's not that big a deal."

"No big deal?" Sam repeated, "Apparently you do not understand this holiday at all."

They arrived at the covered picnic area, where Reason was setting things up. "Hey, girls," Sam spoke up.

"Hey guys." Reason said, sheepishly, "Just a little warning, there's a slight problem with the sweet potatoes." She paused, before adding, "I kind of burned them. Serena gave me this," She held up a bottle of some kind of syrup, "To but over it, but I'm not sure it will do much good."

"Well, we had the opposite problem with the turkey." Sam said, raising the pan, "Hope you like it cold, and without all the parts."

"Already sandwich ready." Reason replied optimistically, "So, are your friends coming?"

"Yeah." Sam replied," Jody and Alex are on their way."

"Perfect." Reason declared, "Why don't we get this stowed and someone can take the kids over to the park until they get here."

A half an hour later a car pulled up to a nearby parking lot. The driver looked and saw three smiling children on the swings for the smaller children.

"I think that's them." Sam told his fellow adults, before walking towards the car just as Jody and Alex got out of it. "Hey." He called out.

"Hey yourself." Jody called, pulling a pan from the back.

"You need any help?" Sam offered.

"No thanks." Jody replied, "We got it."

They walked up to the playground where the women had gathered the children.

"Hi, Ms. Jody!" Dean called out, running to the woman before Hannah could stop him and wrapping himself around her legs.

"Well, I guess someone remembers me." Jody said, returning the hug. She then crouched down, saying, Dean, there's someone I want you to meet." Her eyes glanced over to the girl beside her and said, "This is Alex."

Alex pulled back a little, blinking. This was just too weird. Last time she had saw Dean Winchester, he was large, fully grown man. A large, fully grown, rather hostile man. Now he barely went up to their knees and apparently was a hugger.

"You're pretty." Dean said, before giving her a hug as well.

Alex suddenly felt a warm, tight feeling in her chest.

Maudie walked up, curious. "And who is this gorgeous thing?" Jody asked.

"Maudie." Reason spoke up, "That's Maudie. You must Jody and Alex Mills. I've heard good things."

"It's, ah, Jones, actually." Alex spoke up awkwardly, "I'm, ah, sorta, kinda adopted. It's a long story."

Reason put her hands over her mouth and her cheeks turned red. "Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry, I didn't know- "

"It's alright." Alex said, "You wanna take that foot out of your mouth and show us where to put this stuff?" She gave Reason a little smile.

Reason let out a breath. "Of course." she said, leading them to the picnic shelter.

Shortly after that around noon, the group sat down to meal of cold smoked turkey, brunt sweet potatoes covered in brown sugar cinnamon syrup, green bean casserole cooked just the right amount, spiced pumpkin seeds, and ice tea.

As the parents with small children started to set the small children, Dean grabbed Alex's hand. "Sit." He ordered.  
Alex froze for a moment. "Huh?"

"Sit." Dean reported, trying to pull her over to the bench.

"Dean, I'm sure Alex would like sit by Jody, okay?" Sam tried.

"No, it's okay." Alex said, walking over to bench, "I mean, if that's okay with you."

"Of course, it is." Sam replied, then looked over to his co-parent, "Right Hannah?"

"Yeah, right." Hannah agreed a little apprehensively.

"Thanks." Alex said awkwardly, taking a paper plate, "So, Dean, what do you want?"

"Alex, you don't have to do that." Sam responded, taking a step forward.

"No, it's okay." Alex insisted, putting a bit of turkey on his plate, "This okay?"

Dean nodded.

"In that case, just put a little of all of this on his plate." Sam instructed, "He's not that picky, but sometimes he gets a stubborn streak."

"Good to know some things never change." Jody added in, sitting down.

"Wait until you have to deal with naptime." Hannah commented, helping Castiel with his plate.

There were a few moments of awkward silence as they ate, the Maudie started hitting her sweet potatoes with her spoon.

"Come on, honey, eat." Reason encouraged.

Satisfied that her small portion of potato was sufficiently smashed, Maudie took a spoonful.

Then Dean took a forkful of turkey with his plastic fork, and started screaming at it.

"You okay, there, little man?" Alex asked, surprised and concerned.

"One of the perils of eating with toddlers." Reason spoke up, "They do strange things with their food."

"We were trying to get to him to stop." Sam added, "But we think he's just going through a phase. At least he's only doing it with his meat. I guess he's trying to scare it, or something."

"It's not gonna fight you, kid." Alex told him, "No need to scream it into submission." Then she took a sip of her tea. "This is good." She took another sip, "Oh, this is _really_ good."

"It's just powder and water." Reason spoke up, "And ice. Not exactly rocket science."

"Did you make this?" Alex asked.

"Again, all I did was put powder in some water." Reason repeated, "Okay, I throw a couple if spearmints and lemon candies in there, but it's really nothing special."

"Is this really all we're going to talk about?" Jody spoke up.

"How are things going back in Sioux Falls?" Sam asked.

"Good." Jody replied, "So far nothing weird's happened. How about you two? How's parenthood treating you?"

Sam lowered his voice, "Don't tell them this, but we're basically making this up as we go along."

Jody snorted. "Yeah, that's usually the way it works."

"Hey, Miss," Alex spoke up, "Are you feeling okay? You're not eating anything. You don't even have a plate."

That was Hannah realized Alex was talking to her.

"Alex!" Jody scolded.

"No, it's alright." Hannah assured them, "I don't actually need substance to survive and with so many people eating seemed selfish."

"Hannah, there's a ton of food here." Reason pointed out, "No one's going to be upset if you take a little."

"No thank you, I'm fine." Hannah insisted.

"Hannah, you're starting to freak everyone out." Sam whispered to her, "Just take little to be polite."

"Alright." Hannah said, taking small portions of everything except the turkey. When Sam gave her a questioning look, she said, "Well, we made the turkey. Who am I being polite to?"

Sam laughed, good and hard.

When Hannah looked confused, Reason said, "He's laughing with you honey."

"But I wasn't laughing." Hannah replied, even more confused.

That caused all the adults, plus Alex, to start laughing.

"We're sorry, "Jody said, "We're not trying to be mean, but that was funny."

"I still don't understand." Hannah responded.

"Just trust us, Hannah, it's funny." Sam assured her.

Sam's word put Hannah a little more at ease, so she took a bite of green bean casserole.

When they were finishing up the meal, Reason went back over to the cooler and pulled something out. When the others got a better look at it, they could see it was a pumpkin pie, deep, golden-crusted, filled with orange spied custard liberally blanketed with some kind of sauce.

"Serena Joy made it for me to bring." Reason explained, cutting the pie into slices and doling it out, providing much smaller slices for the children. She too what was left of the slice she sliced the children's off her and handing it to Hannah saying, "You're eating this, and don't argue. Trust me, you'll love it, S. J.'s like some kind of baking genius."

Everyone agreed she was right. The crust was buttery and flakey, and delicious, the rich pumpkin custard chilled and dense and heavily spied, the golden drizzle-warm honey with a little cinnamon mixed in-only served to enhance the already incomparable flavor. Sam tried to imagine how it could possibly be _better_ \- and failed utterly. "How is she not running the dinner?" He asked in-between savoring each bite.

"She's working on it." Reason said, taking a bite.

After everyone had helped cleaned off, the children went back to the swings, Dean dragging Alex along with them. Dean was trying to very hard to get the older girl on a swing.

"I'm not going to fit." Alex insisted.

"In!" Dean insisted, pushing on the swing.

"Okay." Alex finally agreed, hopping if Dean finally saw for himself, she didn't he would let up. She sat in it and Dean tried to push her. She moved a little, but not much.

"See?" Alex said with a bit of a laugh as a determined Dean tried to push her again, "I told you this wouldn't work. So, can I get out now?"

"No." Dean replied firmly, determined to make her go up in the air.

Dean continued to push Alex, past the point it became obvious to his fellow toddlers that he was not going to get her airborne, and the sides of the swing were staring to dig into the teenager.

It was then that Reason came over. "Okay, kiddo," She said, helping Alex up, "Why don't we give Alex here a break?" She pulled her up and said, "Why don't you push Maudie or Cas for a while, or get in the swing yourself."

To everyone's surprise Dean threw himself in the swing on his stomach, swinging back and forth, kicking his little arms and legs.

Both girls stared at him for a moment then busted out laughing. "Okay, that's one way to do it." Reason got out, then putting an arm around Alex, said, "Come on, join the adults for a while."

They sat down on the bench next to Hannah. "Hey, where's Jody and Sam?" Alex asked.

"Over there." Hannah answered, pointing to the pair who were off talking amongst themselves.

Alex turned to look at them absent-mindedly, pulling back her hair, that was when Reason saw the layered scars on her next. She opened her mouth in surprised, almost asking about it, but then she stopped herself just in time. She knew whatever caused those were bad, and she knew what it was like to have something bad happen. She wasn't going to make Alex talk about it.

But it was too late. Alex caught her looking and quickly covered the marks with her hair.

Reason opened her to apologize but what came out instead was, "You know there's a better way to cover that."

"What?" Alex responded, not sure what to think of that.

"Just let me run to my place and I'll show you." Reason offered, "You know, if you want me to."

Alex shrugged. "Sure."

"Hey, Hannah!" Reason called out, getting the angel's attention, "Mind watching Maudie for a few minutes while I go back to the trailer? I'll just be a few minutes."

"Sure." Hannah agreed, "Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'll be fine." Reason assured her, "You're an absolute doll, I'll be right back, I promise."

Ten minutes, Reason came back, holding a small plastic bag with a photo of a pig on it. "Okay," She said, sitting back down next to Alex, "You change your mind while I was gone?"

"No." Alex replied, pulling out her hair, revealing the scars.

Reason pulled unzipped the bag, pulled out a jar of peach-colored goo. "You don't have to use this part." She said opening the jar and putting some on her fingers, "I just always do. May I?"

"Sure." Alex agreed, allowing Reason to put the cold goop on her. "What is this stuff anyway?"

"Make-up primer." Reason answered, "Fixes a multitude of problems. Which is why it's one of the only things I use. Well, that and I don't really like the feel of make-up. Well, that I don't really have the budget for make-up even if I did like it. Which is probably why I horde the cosmetics I do have like gold." She pulled out tube of yellowish concealer.

"Then why are you using it on me?" Alex asked as Reason carefully applied the substance.

"I don't know." Reason, admitted, "Maybe because I like you. "

Alex turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry, that's totally inappropriate." Reason said, looking down, "I mean, we literally just met, I know nothing about you, that was totally out of line."

"No, it's okay." Alex assured her, "I like you, too. You're nice."

"Thanks, I guess?" Reason replied, not wanting to be immodest, but not sure how else to respond, "I think I about got it." She looked in her bag, then looked around, calling out, "Does anybody have a compact, or something with a reflective surface?"

Hannah searched her jacket and pulled out a gold circle she opened it finding a mirror. "Is this what you're looking for?"

"Yes." Reason answered, taking it from her, "Thanks." She then gave the compact to Alex, who used it to look at her scars, which to her amazement, was no longer there.

"Wow." Alex said, actually amazed, she didn't think it would work that well, "That's amazing, thank you."

"No problem. "Reason said, taking Alex's hair and pulling it back, "Now you can show the world your pretty face." She let the other girl's hair down again, "Or you can still where it like this, you still look just as beautiful."

Alex laughed. "You don't have to lie."

"I'm not." Reason insisted, messing with Alex's hair again, "You got this whole unkempt beauty thing going on."

Meanwhile, Hannah had become suddenly interested in what else was in her jacket. As she rummaged through the inside pockets Sam slide next to her, saying, "Hey."

"Oh." Hannah said, startled, then added, "Hey, Sam."

"You find anything interesting?" Sam asked.

"I found her wallet, but I already know that was there." Hannah said, handing Sam a shiny black billfold, "A set of keys, I'm not sure what they're for." She handed the keys to Sam, "A pack of some sort of cigarettes, and -this." She handed a small leather fold to Sam, "There are these small metal-things in there, I don't know what they are."

Sam opened the fold and his eyes widened. "These are-these are lock-picks." He looked up at the angel, "Hannah, who are you possessing?" Normally Sam tried not to give too much thought to this, but the strange discovery had his curiosity-and perhaps a bit of concern-peaked.

"Her name's Caroline." Hannah began, "I found her on bridge. I think she was going to jump off it."

"Jump off it?" Sam asked, "Like, killed herself?"

Hannah nodded." In the end, she thought this would hurt less."

"And the lock-picks?" Sam asked.

"I don't know." Hannah admitted, "I really don't know that much about her, actually. I could ask her if you want. She usually stays her memories, a particular one, some sort of club back in 2012, I think. And for some reason her hair's a different color."

Sam didn't say anything for a moment, then said, "Not, that's-fine. Maybe a little mystery is a good thing."

"Unkempt beauty?" Alex responded, over at the other bench, "What does that even mean?"

"It means you're beautiful without all the effort." Reason explained.

"You mean kind of like you?" Alex asked.

Reason laughed. "I'm not even pretty." The blonde denied, "I'm just—plain. At best."

"Do I need to get Hannah's mirror?" Alex asked.

Reason was blushing now, looking over to the kids.

"They're fine." Alex assured her.

Just then Dean came over to them. "Alex." He began, "Will you play hid 'n seek wif us?"

Alex stared down into Dean's big, green, pleading eyes, suddenly torn between him and Reason.

"Go!" Reason ordered her, laughing, "I know your defenseless against those eyes."

"Alright," Alex agreed, getting up, "Who's seeking first?"

"Maudie!" Dean exclaimed, running off.

"Everybody stay in the park!" Reason called out.

"That's goes double for you two!" Sam called out.

Fifteen minutes later, Dean ran up to Reason, franticly pulling her leg, clearly in distress.

"What's wrong little guy?" Reason asked, "You need your parents?"

"I can't find Alex!" Dean exclaimed.

Reason got up, alarmed. "Okay, clam down, we'll find her." She assured the child, "Have you found the others?"

Dean pointed to where Cas and Maudie were standing by the swing-set.

"Okay," Reason began, standing up, then turning to the others, "Hey, guys?"

The others turned to look at her.

"Help us find Alex?" Reason requested, "I mean, I'm sure she's okay, but- "

"We'll help." Sam said quickly.

They split up, each looking for the girl, calling out. That was when Reason saw a figure slumped against a tree. She walked over to it and broke out into a smile when she saw what the problem was. Alex had fallen asleep.

Reason land down gently nudging her. "Alex." She sang, "Lex, wake up."

Alex woke with a start. "What? What happened?"

"You fell asleep, silly." Reason explained, grinning.

"Oh." Alex responded.

"Come on, let's go." Reason said, taking her by the hand and helping her up, "Everyone's looking for you."

Reason lead her out from behind the trees shouting, "I found her!"

The others started coming in. "Alex!" Dean screamed, running toward her and hitting her legs, wrapping himself tight around them.

"Sorry little guy." Alex said, "I didn't mean to scare anyone, I just wound up—taking a nap."

"Happens to best of us." Sam assured her.

An hour or so later, the group parted ways. Or at least began the process of that.

"It was so good seeing you both again." Jody said, embracing Sam, then Hannah.

"You, too." Sam agreed, "We need to do this again, and soon."

"I think I can manage that." Jody replied.

Meanwhile, Alex was being attacked by a trio of toddlers.

"Why do you half to go?" Dean protested, refusing to let go of the girl's legs.

"Because I live in South Dakota." Alex soothed, running a hand through Dean's hair, "And we have to get back there."

"Why can't you live here?" Dean suggested.

"Tell you what," Alex offered, "I'll visit as soon as I can, okay?"

"Okay." Dean whimpered.

Reason walked up and parked the pack, saying, "Okay, let's give Ms. Alex some space here, okay?" As they did, Reason handed a piece of paper to Alex.

"What's this?" Alex asked.

"My number." Reason answered sheepishly, adverting her eyes. "Sorry if this is out of line, but I wouldn't mind keeping in touch with you…"

"I wouldn't mind keeping touch with you either." Alex cut her off taking the paper, "I'll call you when we get back."

"I'll be waiting." Reason replied, smiling as she pulled Maudie close to her.

And with that Alex joined her foster mother. "Thanks for inviting us." She found herself saying sincerely. She had expected just to sit off in the corner trying not to get noticed the whole time, but she actually enjoyed herself.

"You're welcome." Sam replied, "It was good seeing you again."

"Yeah, you, too, actually." Alex agreed.

And with they got and the car, the parents gathered up their children, and everyone parted ways.


	21. I Will Find A Way

"I'll be right back." Hannah told the boys, who were still in their car seats, before walking up to the trailer.

As she knocked on the door, she could hear Reason saying, "That's Mr. Sam, sweetie, we really have to go."

"But it not done!" Maudie protested.

"We can finish to it night and I'll take it to the post office tomorrow, I promise." Reason responded before opening the door, "Oh, hey, Hannah."

"Hi," Hannah greeted, "Sam couldn't make it. He had to go help his friend Garth with something, I hope it's okay if I take her."

"Of course." Reason said handing Hannah, "I'm sorry we're just running a bit behind, unfortunately my child is one those people that think Christmas should start right after Thanksgiving."

"Uh-huh." Hannah responded, not sure what that meant or what it had to do with anything.

Reason crouched down in front of Maudie and zipped up her purple blue and green jacket. "Can I get a hug?" She asked the little girl. Maudie answered by reaching out and the pair embraced. "I love you, baby girl."

"I love you too, Mommy." Maudie really, while Reason kissed her forehead.

"Be good okay?" Reason requested, handing her off to Hannah.

"Okay." The little girl agreed as they walked away.

As they walked off to the car Hannah noticed Reason wrapping her coat tighter around her as she began her walk to work. "Reason," Hannah called out, "Are you sure you don't want a ride to work? It'll be a bit tight but we can make room."

"It's fine." Reason assured her, "I can make it."

 _That's not why I asked._ Hannah thought, watching her walk away.

Nine hours later, Reason walked out of the dinner and was cut off by a certain familiar blue nova. The window rolled down, revealing Serena Joy. "Get in." She ordered.

"No thanks." Reason replied, trying to walk off again.

"Reason, don't be proud." Serena Joy insisted, driving alongside her, "Get in the car."

"Really, it's fine." Reason told her.

"I _will_ follow you the whole way until you get in here." Serena Joy informed her firmly.

Reason sighed. "Fine." She said, going over to the passenger side and getting in.

"That Christian station?" Serena Joy asked.

"Whatever you want." Reason replied.

Serena Joy flipped the station and Christmas music started coming out. _"How will I come to the one I love? I'll find a way. I'll find a way…"_

Serena Joy pulled up in front the bunker. "You sure this is the place?"

"Yes." Reason said, getting out, "I'll be right back."

Hannah opened the door and stepped back to let Reason in. "Sam still out?" The teenager asked, rubbing her arms at the heat hit her, alerting her to how cold she had been.

"No, he got back hours ago, he's with the kids." Hannah told her, "Is everything okay?'

"Yeah, just a little cold." Reason assured. By chance she accidently pushed back her jacket, revealing where gray sleeve stopped and white skin began.

"Are you—wearing short sleeves on a day like this?" Hannah asked. Even though angels bore the extremes of cold and heat better than humans, even she realized today was cold.

"Yeah—I guess." Reason responded, quickly covering herself up again. "I'm sorry, but Serena's waiting outside I can't stay long. Ah, where are kids?"

"This way." Hannah offered, leading the way.

They found Sam, Dean, Cas, Coat, and all three children's combined stuff animals were lined in short rows while Maudie stood in front of them, pretending to read from the _Jesus Storybook Bible,_ that Reason had bought in at a _Lifeway_ in-between bust stops while she was still pregnant.

"One morning, this giwl was minding was her own business when suddenly, a great warrior of light appear-ed—" She then reached out, trying to pull Castiel up. Cas, however, had no interest in being a visual aid, and fought her.

The other was about to intervene when Reason called out, "Maudie, if Cas doesn't want to come up, don't make him. In fact, honey, we have to go. Miss Serena's waiting."

"Actually, I think I want to hear this." A voice said from behind them. The woman turned around to see Serena Jot standing behind them.

"Let myself in." Serena Joy told them, not elaborating any further as she walked over to the pretend pews and sat down next to Dean's bear, "Carry on, Preacher Girl. I believe some girl, Mary presumably, was getting visited by a- 'great warrior of light' you said?" She gave Hannah a little wink at that.

From that day, Hannah started examining Reason's clothing choices more closely, and that when she realized that regardless of weather, she only wore the same two of its day in and day out. She wasn't sure it was normal. Even Sam had more shirts then that.

"Reason, can I ask you something?" Hannah said one day, when she picked up Maudie from the dinner because Reason had to go in early.

"Shoot." Reason said, whipping off the table.

"Do you only own two shirts?" Hannah asked.

Reason froze. "Why do you ask?"

"I've just—noticed you seem to wear the same two shirts." Hannah explained, "Regardless of the weather."

"Well, between food and Maudie, and savings for in case of emergency there's just not a lot of extra cash to go around." Reason told her, "So I make this with a jacket work."

For the rest of the day, Hannah was troubled by what Reason had said. She shouldn't have to startifice her own well, being like that. There had to be something she could do.

That night after the kids had gone to bed, Hannah approached Sam, who was looking at something on his lab top. "Sam?" She called out.

Sam turned around. "Hey, Hannah, what's up?"

"I wanted to talk you." Hannah explained, walking to him and sitting down, "About…Reason."

"What about her?" Sam asked, not sure where this was going.

"I've been told that this is team year you give people you care about gifts." Hannah began, "Is clothing an appropriate gift?"

"Yes." Sam began, "Why are you asking?"

"Reason doesn't have any winter clothes." Hannah explained, "No proper winter clothes at least. I was hoping we could do something about that."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Sam responded, "Some people are uncomfortable about things like that. You know how she didn't want us to take Maudie, and she refuses to take rides unless Serena forces her. I don't think we can do that."

Still Hannah spent most of the night mulling over the idea. There had to be some way to just get Reason some new clothes without embarrassing her. Sometime around two A. M., a solution came to her.

The only problem was it involved going to place she considered Hell on Earth.

The next day Hannah pulled into a space at the Wal-Mart and looked out, taking a deep breath. It wasn't that she had anything particularly against Wal-Mart it was big and crowded and noisy and it took her fifteen minutes to ever locate anything…

Hannah breathed in again, and exhaled. _You can do this._ She told herself, _Its for your friend. You can do this._ With that she stepped out of the car and ran across the parking lot, people stares be damned, before she lost her nerve.

When she walked into the store, Hannah was immediately hit with a sensory overload of hundreds of bodies, and chatter and children crying and other noises, and immediately started to lose her nerve again. Fortunately, she saw the clothing section and quickly walked over to it

It seemed to Hannah as if the clothing section had every article of clothing known to man. Dress shirts, pants, children clothing. She wasn't really sure where to start.

"Do you need some help ma'am?" A voice asked behind her. Hannah whirled around to see a young girl about the same age as Reason with smooth brown hair. The nametag on her apron said, EMMA ROSE.

"I'm just looking for some clothes for a friend." Hannah explained, "I'm just—not sure where to start."

"Well, is your friend a man or a woman?" Emma Rose inquired.

"She's a young woman." Hannah answered.

"Well, then," Emma Rose began, walking over to a display of neatly folded sweaters, "I can't be sure about your friend's taste, but I would suggest these gorgeous sweaters we just got in."

Hannah reached and put a clump of forest green wool between her fingers. It felt soft, but almost sturdy. It was about perfect.

With Emma Rose's help Hannah finally settled on a pebble gray sweater and a sweater that was a slivery shade of lilac and reminded Hannah of one Maudie had. "Thank you." Hannah told the girl when they were done before walking to the check out.

She got in the twenty items behind a muscular man with a beard who was buying a carton of orange juice. After he checked out, she put the sweater on the counter, where a woman with short gray hair scanned them. "That'll be twenty-five forty-nine." The rather chipper cashier told her.

Hannah handed her a credit card.

"Thank you, have a good day." The woman told her, handing her back the card.

"And you as well." Hannah told her, heading out the door. She really hoped this worked.


	22. The WASP Factory

The small makeshift family was sitting in the Impala, Sam and Hannah in the front and the boys playing with some toys in the back, on their way to Conedituct. Hannah looked back at them for a moment, then turned back to the front. "How did your friend know this LaCroix woman, exactly?"

"I honestly have no clue." Sam admitted, "Bobby had secrets. Like his love for Tori Spelling. If he only knew Dean cheated on her."

Hannah looked back at the boys with a shocked look.

"Oh, no, not our Dean." Sam assured her quickly, realizing what was going on, "A completely different Dean entirely. Our Dean had never even met this woman."

Turning back around, Hannah asked, "Are you sure it was safe to bring the boys?"

"Yeah, this seems about as safe as it can get." Sam assured her, "And getting out of the bunker would do them some good. Probably do _you_ some good, too. I mean, I don't think you've been fifty feet away from the bunker since—Thanksgiving maybe."

That was the whole logic behind bringing Hannah and the boys with him on this road trip. Sam got answers about how Bobby knew this heiress (hopefully), maybe they get a little pull-up money, and the rest get a few days out.

Shortly after that, they parked in front of the LaCroix mansion, among other very expensive cars.

"Wow." Sam commented, surveying their surroundings, "I think I might be a little underdressed. I'm getting the Fed threads from the trunk."

"I'm sure you look fine." Hannah assured him.

"Ah, Hannah, look around you." Sam countered, gesturing to luxurious estate.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Hannah questioned.

Sam paused a moment wondering how to explain it to her. "You know what," He said finally, "You're right. Let's just—see if anyone's home."

They walked up to the front door and Sam rang the doorbell, which started playing Beethoven's _Fuer Elise._ The door was open by a young petite blonde in a maid's uniform.

"May I help you?" The young maid asked.

"I'm Sam Winchester." Sam introduced himself, "This is my…um…college, Hannah Smith, and these are our kids. Sorry, we couldn't find a babysitter. We're here on behalf of Bobby Singer."

"Mr. Singer won't be coming?" The young maid asked.

"No, he passed away." Sam explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." The young maid responded surprised.

"Uh, condolences for your lost, too." Sam replied.

"Thank you." Oliva said, "Well, you just missed the funeral, but the family's relaxing inside if you'd like to join."

Oliva lead them to a billiard room where five people had gathered. Two older blonde women, one with short hair, the other with long hair, both dressed in black and clear jewels, the long hair-blonde woman holding a glass of wine an older gentleman, with a younger blonde dressed in black with a sliver heart pendant, almost holding a glass of wine, standing over him as he plated billiards, and dark-haired young man the same age as the youngest blonde leaned up against the mantle place with a drink in his hand.

"Allow me to interduce Sam Winchester and Hannah Smith." Oliva announced.

The short haired blonde approached them, or more specifically, Sam. "Sam Winchester of Westchester Winchesters?" She asked, looking at Sam in a way that made him nervous.

"Uh no." Sam answered, rather uncomfortable, "I don't think there's…"

Along with him saying this Hannah was shaking her head.

"…any relation." Sam finished, "Sorry."

"No matter." The blonde woman responded, "You are adorable." Then she noticed Hannah and the boys and asked, "Are you, too—"

"Oh, no." Hannah cut her off, not realizing what she was setting Sam up for.

This pleased the woman. "I'm Heddy," She introduced herself, "Bunny's cusion, and this is my sister, Beverly."

"Charmed, I'm sure." Beverly spoke up.

"And that's Bunny youngest brother, Stanton." Heddy continued, indicating to the man at the pool table," Stan for short."

"Come in fellas, join the morning." Stan welcomed them, not looking up from his game.

"And his child bride…Amber." Heddy continued, her distain for the relationship evident.

"Go Stan!" Amber cheered, hanging off of her husband.

Stan missed the shot. "Babe, don't." He requested, "You're breaking my concentration."

"And then there's Dash." Heddy continued, gesturing to preppy dressed dark haired young man, "That's the baby of the family. He's Bunny's great nephew—Harvard business."

"How did you two know Aunt Bunny?" Dash asked.

"We uh…" Hannah began, not sure if this was a good idea.

"We—we—we didn't personally know her." Sam admitted, "My—My surrogate dad, Bobby Singer, did."

"Did." Hannah repeated. "Me and the boys are really just along for the ride, as it were."

"Bobby?" Beverly repeated, "Never heard of him. But you can fill us in over the weekend, huh."

"Well, we were hopping you could tell us…" Hannah began, then she fully processed what was said, "Weekend?"

"Didn't the attorney tell you?" Heddy responded, "Service was today and the reading of the will tomorrow."

"Oh, but you're welcome to stay the night." Beverly informed them, eying Sam, "All the rooms sleep two."

Heddy slapped Sam's butt, commenting, "Or three."

Not realizing the connotation, Dean giggled.

'" Okay." Sam responded, trying not to make a scene.

"Mommy, that lady is scary." Cas informed Hannah.

"It's alright, baby." Hannah whispered, pulling him close and rubbing the back of his neck, "Mommy's here."

That was when Amber noticed someone was missing. "Where's Collette?"

"She quit." The butler, who had remained quiet until now, spoke up, "Poor dear was so distraught over Mrs. La Croix's passing. Went off to find herself." "Ashram in India?" Heddy asked.

"Uh, clown college in Sarasota." The butler answered.

"Good choice." Heddy commented.

"Who's Collette?" Hannah spoke up.

"The other maid on staff." The butler answered, walking up to the little family, "May I have a word with you in the hall in five minutes?"

"Sure." Sam answered.

"Yes." Hannah agreed.

"So, Sam, tell me…do you work out?" Beverly asked.

Later, Phillip walked towards the Ballard room with an envelope in his hand as Sam, Hannah, and boys walked out.

"I've never seen anything like that my entire time on earth." Hannah whispered to Sam, "What are these people?"

"I think they're called W.A.S.P.S." Sam answered.

"What?" Hannah responded, still confused.

Approaching them, the butler cleared his throat, "My apologies for being so oblique back there, but I'm doing you four a favor."

"Okay." Sam responded, not sure where this was going.

"As you know, Mrs. LaCroix bequeathed something to your Mister Singer." The butler began, "But the reason of the will isn't until tomorrow and I would hate for you to have to stick around and be forced to—well, mingle with the family."

"Daddy, what does mingle mean?" Dean spoke up.

"Like, hang out with." Sam answered. _Something we're apparently too low-brow to do._ Sam hadn't been looking forward to spending the weekend with a bunch of strangers, two of which wanted to eat him alive apparently, still, he was a bit offended.

"Oh, Mr. Winchester, if you think that I don't think you're good enough, it's quite the contrary." The butler assured him, realizing what he was thinking, "You're far too good. The LaCroix family is…How shall I say this politely and, in a manner, fit for children to hear? Money grubbing leeches."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, "I thought they were all loaded."

"Loaded-yes, rich-no." The butler explained, "The recession hit every one of them and I'm afraid if the knew what Bunny left you those vultures would try to stake claim. And since the attorney kindly agreed to a hand-off, you don't have to be subjected to their scrutiny." He handed the envelope to Sam, "Besides, I doubt you want to keep your little ones out all weekend."

They really didn't, but Sam still had one more thing to ask, "Do you have any idea how Bunny and Bobby knew each other?"

Just then Oliva entered the hallway.

"Not in the slightest." The butler answered, "Um, now if there's nothing else, should I have Oliva show you out?"

"No, no." Sam answered, "That's uh…we got it. Thanks."

Oliva and the butler went down the hall. When they were gone, Sam opened the envelope, pulling out a large jewel-covered cross on a chain.

"I don't mean to sound snobbish, but that seems like an odd thing to give a hunter." Hannah noted, confused.

"I know what you mean." Sam assured her, "Thought I have an idea. Let's go see if these rocks are real."

Sam found a nearby pawn shop and the group went in, where they were quickly disappointed.

"I don't understand." Hannah protested, "The woman who willed this to him was quite wealthy."

"Well, looks like this lady had a soft spot for fake rubies and cubic zirconium." The pawn broker told them, "This is interesting, thought." He pulled the top off of the necklace, "It's a key."

"A key to what?" Hannah asked.

"There's one way to find out—ask Jeeves." Sam responded.

"Who's Jeeves?" Hannah asked, "And why would he know anything about this?"

If they knew what was brewing back at the mansion, they may have just cut their losses and went home. Or at least have gone in better prepared.

"Beverly saw you sexting at dinner!" Stan exclaimed to his wife in one of the mansion's many bedrooms.

"Bev doesn't know what the Hell she's talking about." Amber, now dressed in while responded, as she took off her earring, "I was texting my mom."

"An emoticon of a peeled banana?" Stan shot back.

"She likes fruit." Amber retorted.

"Just admit it." Stan insisted, "You're cheating."

"And you're drunk." Amber countered, "Not to mention, paranoid." Catching of it, she pointed to the poriat of Bunny and her husband in their wedding attire that hung on the wall. "Just like Lance. He was always accusing poor Bunny of sleeping around."

"Because she was." Stan shot back, "My sister was nothing but a two-bit hooker in Chanel!"

"How dare you?" Amber sneered, shocked by his callousness towards his own sister, "Your sister's dead." She marched to the backroom and slammed the door.

The picture was glaring down at Stan.

"What the Hell are you looking at?" Stand demanded, "Good riddance to you both."

A voice called out, "Stanton."

Thinking it was Amber, Stan exclaimed, "What?!"

"I didn't say anything!" Amber called back from behind the closed door.

The voice called out, "Stanton," again.

Stanton opened the door and walked out into the hallway. He heard the voice again as he walked down the hall looking around. Suddenly Lance was in front of him with an ax.

"No." Stanton gasped, "Ahhh."

As Amber came out of the bedroom into the hall to see what was going on, Lance chopped Stanton's head off, causing his young bride to scream in horror.


	23. Ask Jeeves

"Wait here." Sam told the others, nervously looking from Hannah to the boys, who were preoccupied by the _My Buddy_ doll they had found at the pawn shop, before stepping" out of the car. He walked up and rang the doorbell. The door was shortly opened by the butler.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked.

"Not really." The butler replied, holding open the door for Sam.

"Yeah," Sam responded, "Thanks."

"I presume you left something behind." The butler guessed, "I'll check the front closet for burlap, and toys."

"Ah, that jacket's actually canvas." Sam sputtered, "And the boys didn't bring in any—"

Just then a bald man in a black and white suit approached them. "You were here earlier?"

"With my family." Sam answered, "Who wants to know?"

The man flashed his badge. "Detective Howard. New Canaan P.D. Congratulations sir, you and anyone who came with you are now officially murder suspects."

"I'm sorry, what?" Sam responded, guinely surprised.

"Yeah, Bunny LaCroix's brother Stanton was killed this evening." Detective Howard explained, "His body's just gone to the morgue."

"And you think…" Sam began, not sure he liked where this was going.

"I don't know what to think." Detective Howard admitted, "And that's why you and anyone else who stepped foot in this house today is being detained for questioning."

"There's just one thing," Sam responded, "My, ah, friend and our kids are in the car and they're only two…"

"Call someone to get your kids." Detective Howard instructed, "I highly doubt they did it. But you and your friend and staying put."

After calling Jody to come pick up the boys, Hannah and Sam went into the lounge, and Beverly trying to restrain Heddy, who was trying to attack Dash.

"Beverly let go of me." Heddy exclaimed, "It's so obvious she's guilty."

"You're off your rocker, old lady." Dash shot back.

"Old lady?!" Heddy balked, "I…" She noticed Sam and Hannah, "I'm 39."

"And you have been since 0 3." Dash snarked.

"How—how dare you?" Heddy gasped.

"Sorry to interrupt but—but who's guilty?" Sam asked.

"The town sult Amber." Heddy answered, "She killed Stan."

Hannah tired to cover the children's ears but it was too late. The angry voices caused Cas to retreat behind Hannah's leg, but Dean, ever curious, pipped up. "What does sult mean?"

Everyone froze for a moment. "Nice, going," Dash exclaimed, "You just taught a baby how to swear!"

"That is a word for a woman who's done—very, very bad things." Hannah tried her best to explain.

"But you should never, ever call anyone that." Sam quickly added in.

"But she called Amber that." Dean pointed out, pointing at Heddy.

"I was very, very bad for saying it." Heddy covered, "Don't be like me!"

"Oh." Dean said softly.

That settled, the argument recommenced as if nothing had happened. "And what's her motive, _Murder She Wrote?_ " Dash challenged.

"Oh, everyone knows that Amber was sleeping around." Heddy reasoned, "She wanted to leave Stan but Prenup was iron clad. So, she killed him."

"Sounds logical." Sam admitted.

"It does?" Hannah asked, as she couldn't imagine anyone killing their husband over a prenup, whatever that was.

"Well, unless you believe that ridiculous story that she's been peddling." Heddy continued, "A ghost killed Stanton. Honestly."

"Uh, a ghost?" Sam asked on instinct.

"She's calming that Bunny's late husband, Lance, did it." Heddy explained, "Have you ever heard such a thing. What a panic! So stupid."

"You're as nutty as a squirrel on those synthetic hormones." Dash responded, getting in Heddy's face.

"Nutty?" Heddy repeated, "How appalling of you! Don't they teach you manners in Harvard?"

"So, uh…" Hannah whispered to Sam, knowing him well enough now to realize what he was probably thinking.

"Looks like we might have a case here." Sam confirmed, "Vengeful spirit?"

"You're the expert." Hannah replied, "How can you tell?"

"I have an EMF reader in the car, but with Detective Friendly on the hunt I won't be able to get to it, so I'm gonna look for cold spots." Sam explained to her, "Stay here, keep an eye on Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustard while I sniff around?"

"But what about?" Hannah gestured to the boys.

Sam's heart sank. Their kids were in a mansion with a possible ghost and a definite murder and a bunch of crazy rich people. "Listen, just keep them safe until Jody gets there." He said finally, "I am so sorry about this." The one neither of them ever wanted to happen, was apparently happening.

"You couldn't have known this was going to happen." Hannah reassured him, "You should go before those sisters notice you again."

"You're the best." Sam replied sincerely before taking off.

"Oh, Sam!" Hannah whispered, causing him to turn around, "Who are Mrs. Peacock or Colonel Mustard. I didn't meet them when were here last time."

"They're not actually here." Sam replied, "I'll explain later." Then he took off.

As Sam left the room, Hannah turned her attention back to the argument, where Heddy was defending her own wealth, "For your information I already own a big beautiful yacht."

"Oh, is that what you call that thing?" Dash shot back.

"Fine, it's a mahogany sunfish." Heddy conceded.

As Sam walked down an upstairs hallway he peered into a suit of armor.

"Mommy, why is everyone mad?" Castiel asked, pulling on Hannah's pants leg. She got the kids away from the fight, and Dash had joined her.

Dash turned and leaned down. "We're not mad, little guy, we're just having very—excited conversation. It's okay, buddy."

"Oh." Cas responded, staring up at him.

Hannah ran a hand through Cas' hair. "Thanks," She told Dash, "Forgive me for saying this, but for a family that just lost two members, you all seem…fine."

"Well, Hannah, I'll let you in on a little family secret." Dash began, "We don't really like each other. Then again, what family does?"

"We do!" Dean spoke up innocently.

"Uh, for the most part," Hannah curtailed, pulling Dean back, "Thought, it's more or less just the four of us, so…"

"Then you're lucky." Dash told her, "Trust me, it's a miracle we've been under the same roof 24 hours and we haven't—" Then he remembered that in fact, they had, "Oops…my bad."

"And, uh—why are you so sure Amber didn't do it?" Hannah asked.

"Because Amber's not a killer." Dash insisted, "She has trouble using Wi-Fi. I don't exactly think she's capable of murder."

Meanwhile Sam was walking down another hallway past the bedroom, past a creepy boar's head on the wall, where the outline of Sandford's body and head was. He was a bookcase with a cross that matched the necklace on its cover.

Walking up to the bookcase, he pulled off a book, which opened to reveal a hidden door.

 _Okay,_ Sam thought, _So we're in some kind of Agatha Christie novel._

Back in the lounge Hannah was asking, "And her story about the ghost?"

"I don't believe in ghosts." Dash told her, "That said, if anyone would come back to haunt, it's Uncle Lance. Heard he was a real bastard. No one really mourned his death except Aunt Bunny who became a recluse after he died. So maybe the old goat has a chip on his shoulder. Who the-" After remembering the kids were there, he rephrased, "Heck knows?"

Just then Dective Howard walked back into the room with Amber. "Dash, you're up." He told him.

Dash passed Amber on the way out and left with the detective.

Meanwhile, Sam pulled the key from the cross necklace and used it to open the secret door behind the bookcase. As he entered, he picked up a pipe and then some rope, just in case. _And, I'm in Clue as well,_ He thought as he continued. Holding the pipe, he climbed the stairs and turned on a flash light as he entered the attic. It was filled with old toys and an old TV set and needed a good cleaning. The flashlight landed on a rolled-up carpet with feet sticking out of it.

That when he heard footsteps. "Sam?" Oliva's voice asked.

Sam's light landed on the frightened maid. "Oliva?"

"Thank God!" Olive exclaimed, "I thought you were him."

"Him-who?" Sam asked.

"Phillip, the butler." Oliva answered, "He locked me in here because I wouldn't lie to the detective about what I saw."

"What did you see?" Sam questioned.

"I saw him roll Collette's body in a rug." Oliva answered, still shaken from her brief captivity.

Sam remembered hearing that name before. "Clown collage Colette? The butler killed her?"

"No, no." Oliva quickly corrected him, "He just—he just hid her."

"Then who killed her?" Sam asked.

"I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I saw it with my own eyes." Oliva responded.

"Let me guess—Lance's ghost." Sam replied.

"No—" Oliva answered, "Bunny's."

Hannah reentered the lounge after handing the children off to Jody, and assuring her they could handle the situation if she would just please keep the boys safe, at the same time Sam and Olivia entered, while the rest of the family played cards.

The pair immediately went to each other. "Jody's got the kids, they'll be in a motel in town." Hannah told him, "So?"

"You seen the butler?" Sam asked.

"No." Hannah answered, "Why?"

"Cause if anybody's got answers, it's him." Sam answered, "We're dealing with two vengeful spirits. Apparently, Aunt Bunny had a bee in her bonnet as well."

"Husband and wife tag-team killer ghost?" Hannah asked, "Is that something that happens often?"

"Not really." Sam admitted, "But I guess you have to keep the marriage alive somehow. The key is to a hidden attic."

"Why would Bunny want Bobby to have a key to her attic?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know." Sam admitted, "It gets weirder. I found Oliva _and_ Colette locked inside."

"Clown college Collette?" Hannah responded.

"Yeah, but she's not studying balloon animals." Sam told her, "She's dead."

Hannah was quiet a moment in shock, then asked, "Now what does the butler have to do with all this?"

"He's the one who locked them in there." Sam explained, "Now I don't know why, but he's covering for the spooks. He's acting like their Renfield."

"There who?" Hannah began, but decided, "Never mind. We have to find him."

"I'll take upstairs." Sam told her, "You take now here."

"Alright." Hannah agreed as Sam headed upstairs.

Just then Detective Howard came in, calling out, "Sam Winchester!"

Sam hurried down the upstairs hall.

"Where did you run off to?" Howard called out.

Sam turned the corner only to be ambushed by a very lustful Beverly. "Well, well, well." She began, "What do we have here? Whatcha doing snooping around these halls, hmmm?"

"Uh…" Sam stammered.

"Up to no good?" Beverly teased, "Why don't we get up to no good together? You know they say women just get better with age. Like a fine wine or—or cheese."

"Uh, I—I uh—I'm lactose intolerant, so—" Sam rambled.

"Oh, come on, Sammy." Beverly urged seductively, "Don't be coy. We have a good ten minutes before my interrogation. And I bet a young buck like you can do a lot in ten minutes."

Finally, Sam decided the only way to get rid of the woman was to appear to agree. "Right behind you."

"Right, behind me, oh." Beverly repeated as she entered the bedroom, "Could you just give me a hand with this zipper? I always have such a hard time…"

However, Sam was already gone—he had rushed down the hall.

Meanwhile, Hannah was on the first floor in the butler's quarters. She picked up a large wrench, just in case, and entered, finding Phillip with his back to her.

"Uh, leaky facet's down the hall." He said, not turning to look at her.

"I'm not the Plummer." Hannah informed him, "I'll get right to the point. What are you doing hiding dead maids in secret rooms?"

"I know it all looks rather peculiar, but I can explain." Phillip responded.

Meanwhile, Sam had answered the kitchen. Seeing blood, he took a knife from the block. He found Phillip's dead body with a knife sticking out of it.


	24. Crazy Rich Shifters

Unaware that she was with the shifter, Hannah listened to "Phillip's" version of events.

"So, you hid Collette's body so she wouldn't overshadow Bunny?" Hannah summarized, utterly baffled by the explanation. This could _not_ be a normal thing.

"I couldn't stand the thought of overshadowing Mrs. LaCroix's funeral with another death." 'Phillip' justified, "She deserved a proper farewell. I owed it to her."

"Even I know that's insane." Hannah responded.

"No, Miss Smith, that's loyalty." Phillip said.

That was when Hannah received the text: _Just found Phillip. Dead._

Hannah turned to Not-Phillip, about to attack when Not-Phillip threw her across the room before she could. As she got back up, she saw a pile of clothes and skin by the door, indicated the shift had already at least started to change. Embarrassed and alarmed, she dialed Sam on her phone.

"Hannah?" Sam asked.

"Yes," She confirmed, "Sam, this isn't a ghost. Unless, ghost can shed their skin." After a beat she asked, "Can they?"

"No." Sam responded, "What you're describing sounds like a shapeshifter. Now, I'll come to you, tell me exactly what happened."

That was how they wound up past the kitchen, staring at Philip's body.

"So, this shifter's getting its jollies off by impersonating dead people." Sam speculated, then when a confused look contorted on Hannah's face, explained, "It's just a way of saying it enjoys impersonating dead people." Then he turned back to the bodies, continuing, "First Bunny, then Lance, now Phillip. Guess we can rule out 'the butler did it'."

Hannah didn't understand what that meant, but realized it was hardly the most important thing at the moment. "How do we find it again? If it shed its skin, it could be anyone. Even you."

"Of you." Sam replied, "We'll need some sliver. Sliver, it burns them."

That was when Oliva entered, saw Phillip's body and was, perhaps understandably, upset. "Oh my God!"

"He was like that when we found him." Was the first thing that came to Hannah's mind and out of her month.

"Who did this?" Oliva demanded, apparently believing them.

"We don't know yet, okay?" Sam answered, "Now, listen. I know you think he was working with ghost but there's something way worse going on here."

"Worse than…" Oliva began, "What is going on?"

"If you want to help, then help." Sam told her, "Can you do that?"

As per their instructions Oliva took them to sliver wear case with a full set of sliver cutlery, including knives.

"Why do you need the sliver where?" She asked.

"For protection." Sam explained, picking up one of the knives.

"Butter knives?" Oliva questioned.

"Trust us." Sam assured her, "There's a method to our madness." Then, meaning to test her, held it out to her. "Can you—ah—hold this?"

"Hannah?" Sam requested, holding the knife out to her.

Hannah took it and nothing happened.

Than Sam picked up another knife, confirming that he was not the shifter. "Let's do this."

In the lounge, Beverly and Heddy were scrolling through men's pictures on a dating app with an iPad.

"No." Beverly rejected the man, causing Heddy scroll to the next, "No," Heddy scrolled again, "No," Heddy scrolled to the next one "No! Ugh!"

"Wait, wait, wait." Heddy interrupted, "Go back. He owned an island."

"And a hair lip." Beverly pointed out.

"Who cares if he's ugly if your drinking Mai Tai's in the lap of luxury?" Heddy countered.

That was when Sam entered the room, not believing what he was about to do. "Hey." Sam called out, "Hey, ladies."

"Hi." Heddy responded.

"What are you doing?" Sam inquired.

"Trying to find Beverly a man." Heddy answered.

"I've resorted to fishing online because the live ones won't bite." Beverly lamented.

"You mean back there?" Sam replied, "I-I was just playing hard to get."

That seemed to lift the women's spirts. "Well then…" Beverly began, "You're a very convincing actor." He motioned for Sam to sit on the couch. "Come."

"Sure." Sam agreed, walking over to the couch, "Alright."

Beverly pushed Heddy over. "Sit here." Sam instructed, "Yes."

Sam sat between them.

"Ah." Beverly moaned, as Sam put his hand on her bare leg, "Oh. Mmm."

Unknown to either woman, Sam had a sliver butter knife under his shirt cuff to underside of his right hand. Beverly seemed to check out.

"Boo." Heddy wined, "I'm feeling so left out."

"Well then, uh, come over here, darling." Sam awkwardly offered, sliding his other arm, which also had a butter knife attached to it, over her shoulder, "Water's arm."

"Oh." Heddy moaned, "Oh yes."

Hannah opened the billiard room to find no one there. She was about to leave when she heard something in the closet. Pulling out her blade she opened to find…Dash and Amber kissing.

"What?" Hannah responded, not getting what was going on for a moment, "Ooooh. Really?"

"We can explain." Amber told her.

"Oh, I think I understand what's going on here." Hannah replied uncomfortably, "How long has this been going on."

"Since last year's clambake." Dash answered, looking over at Dana lovingly, "We were in line at the buffet, they ran out of steamers. One thing lead to another and…"

"But we didn't kill Stanton." Amber added quickly.

"We may be guilty of cheating, but no murder." Dash agreed.

"I just need to do one thing to confirm that." Hannah responded, pulling two sliver butter knives and heading it to them, "Touch these."

"What?" Dash blacked, confused, "Why?"

"Just do it or I'll tell everyone about your infidelity." Hannah threatened.

Dash and Amber tentively touched the cutlery. "Did…we past?" Amber asked.

"Yes." Hannah answered, "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. Come on you two."

Back in the lounge, Sam was still sitting in between Beverly and Heddy on the couch, Beverly touching his hair and Heddy touching his fingers. He was rather uncomfortable if he was being honest, but wasn't sure how to get out of it.

"Did you see how long his finger are?" Heddy marveled, still stroking them.

"There's…" Sam stammered," There's just…."

"First of all, did you see all of this?" Beverly countered, "How long…."

Just then Hannah come back, for reasons she couldn't figure out annoyed by what she was seeing on the couch, causing her to clear her throat.

"Oh, she—I—I think she wants to talk to me, so…" Sam began, standing up and walking to her. "Thank you so much." He whispered to her, "Gray Gardens cleared."

"Alright, well, so are Dash and Amber." Hannah replied, "They're, what I believe you would call a thing by the way. These WASPs are very strange people."

"You have no idea." Sam replied, "So, that's everyone. Except for…"

However, before he could finish, he was interrupted by Oliva screaming.

When the reached Oliva down the hall, she was pointing to the bathroom. With everyone else in the doorway Hannah and Sam entered the room to fine Detective Howard dead with his head in the toilet.

"I think we can rule the dective out as a suspect." Hannah said sadly.

"Great." Sam sighed.

Everyone else came into the bathroom.

"Detective Howard's dead." Sam confirmed.

"Drowned in a toliet?" Heddy recapped, "How filthy."

"What kind of monster would do such a thing?" Beverly asked, then she and her cusion turned to Oliva.

"Don't look at me." Oliva squeaked, "I was just trying to pee."

"Okay, hold on." Sam spoke up, "Before we start pointing fingers…"

However, before he could finish his sentence, Heddy blurted out, "Amber had motive! She killed the deteicve because she knew it was just a matter of time before he figured out, she killed Stan."

Dash did a mock clap. "Bravo, Rizzoli! You solved the case. Wanna weight in too, Isles?"

"I didn't kill Stanton or the detective." Amber protested, "And I have proof."

"Okay, guys…" Sam began.

"My alibi is in the room." Amber continued.

"She wouldn't." Hannah said in disbelief that this was happening.

"Amber couldn't have killed the detective because she was with me." Dash spoke up, "We're in love."

"We're sleeping together." Amber added.

"I knew it!" Beverly declared.

"Well then you have motive too." Heddy informed Dash, "You offed Stand because you were diddling his wife."

"Oh." Dash scoffed, "The old lady doth protest too much. You're only pointing the finger to distract from your own guilt. And you probably got Baby Jane to help."

Beverly gasped. "Well, I never!" She exclaimed indignantly, "I'm leaving."

Sam blocked her way. "All right, hang on. No one's leaving, okay? Leaving just makes you look guilty, and we have four corpses now."

"Four corpses?" Amber repeated.

 _That's right, they don't know about the other two._ Sam thought. "Yes. You can add Phillip and Collette to the list."

"Clown Collage Collette?" Heddy asked, "But I thought she…"

"She's dead!" Sam exclaimed, "Alright, she's dead. And we can't help you unless you stop arguing with one another. You need to trust us."

"Trust you?" Dash challenged, "Uh, we don't even know you. Look Buddy, I'm trying to be objective here, but we've had countless family functions before, and even thought we wanted to kill one another, we never did."

"Dash is right." Heddy agreed, "Our get-togethers never end in murder. The only thing different this time around is you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Sam began, "Hold on."

"Whatever you're suggesting…" Hannah began.

That was when Dash grabbed the detective's gun. "Step away from him, Hannah." He ordered, "I don't think you had anything to do with it."

"What?!" Hannah balked.

"As for you," Dash continued, pointing the gun at Sam, "Let's go."

Sam didn't move calculating whether or not he could get the gun away from Dash safely.

"Don't even think about it." Dash warned, "I…hunt peasant."

 _You say that like it qualifies you for anything._ Sam though.

"Oh, for the love of Father!" Hannah snapped, reaching out and pulling the gun from Dash's hands before crushing it with her bare hands.

"What the—?" Dash began, shocked and more than bit afraid. If the looks on the others' faces were any indication, they felt the same the same way.

"That was bit much, wasn't it?" Hannah asked, seeing their reactions.

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "A bit much. Look, let's all just—gather back in the lounge."

Not seeing a lot of options, that's what they did. "How did you do that?" Dash asked, sitting next to Amber and not looking directly at Hannah.

Hannah was silent, wondering whether or not she should tell them.

Just then Sam walked up to her holding one of the knives. "I figured out why no one sizzled." He whispered to her, "Made in Taiwan. Stainless steel. No wonder the rich stay rich they never spend any of the money."

"Then how do we figure out which one it is?" Hannah asked softly, "And how do we kill it?"

"I have silver bullets and _actual_ sliver knives in the trunk." Sam told her, "I'll get them, you keep an eye on this bunch, if they try anything, just- remind them that you just crushed a gun like it was tissue paper."

"Okay." Hannah agreed slowly as he walked off.

"You realize you just signed all our death warrants." Dash spoke up once Sam was gone, hopping he could still reach Hannah.

"That seems a bit melodramatic don't you think?" Hannah responded.

"I'm with Hannah on this one." Amber agreed, "Why would Sam want us dead?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Dash reasoned, "He wanted our inherence. Guess whatever Aunt Bunny left them wasn't good enough."

"Then why would he kill a detective and the staff?" Hannah pointed out, "That makes no sense. And why don't you think I could be involved?"

"You're just too sweet." Dash answered, "Too good with your kids. As for the others— "His voice trailed off for a long moment than said, "Well, Collette and Phillip probably saw something they shouldn't have, and the deteicve would have eventually figured out it was him."

Hannah had to admit, that did make some sense.

"I knew you two were trailer trash the you rolled up in that American made. "Heddy declared.

"And I bet you two probably are together." Beverly accused, "I don't buy this sweet little soccer mom act."

Hannah had just about had enough. "First off." She began calmly, but tensely, "I am _not_ in a romantic relationship with Sam. Secondly, I didn't see his status stop either of you from pouncing on him like a couple of harlots!"

Both women gasped. "Why I never!" Beverly repeated.

"You kept saying that." Hannah responded, "What does that even mean?" She turned to Olivia, who was standing behind the coach. "Oliva, help me out here."

"Sorry, Hannah." Oliva replied, getting right behind Dash, "Can't help you."

"Look, you know these people." Hannah reasoned, "Maybe you can get through to them where I'm not."

A wicked smile crossed Oliva's face. "You idiots couldn't be more wrong…about everything." Then she lunged, getting Dash and headlock and putting the butter knife to his neck, "Don't you know, if it's not the butler, it's the maid?"

"Well, we do _now._ " Hannah commented.

That was Sam came back in the room, freezing when he saw Oliva had Dash hostage.

"Sam, it's Oliva, the maid." Hannah told him, as if that wasn't already evident.

"I'm not the maid." Oliva corrected her.

"Well, that explains the dust." Heddy commented.

"I'm Bunny's daughter." Oliva announced.

"What are you talking about?" Beverly spoke up, "Bunny didn't have a child."

"OH, yes she did—a very devoted one." Oliva declared, "I loved mother more than anything, which is more than I can say for you."

"Then where have you been hiding all these years?" Dash asked, then realized it probably wasn't a good idea to ask that of someone with a knife to his throat.

"The attic." Oliva answered.

"Like in the movie." Amber gasped.

"Oh, Amber." Heddy lamented.

"Outside of mother, Phillips was the only one at the manor who knew." Oliva continued, "So after she died, he took pity on me, and he let me out. He told me to pose as the new maid so I could hide in plain sight."

"That's why you killed Collette—for her job?" Amber responded.

"Oh no, no, no, no." Oliva objected, "Collette was just an accident. I just wanted to scare her because I caught her stealing."

"Well, that doesn't explain wanting us dead." Heddy spoke up, "None of us are thieves."

"Oh, no." Oliva seethed, "You're worse. Your greed. Your distain. Your blatant disrespect for mother. Oh. You all had it coming!"

"But, why kill Phillip?" Hannah asked, "I mean, if he was on your side…."

"Because he turned on me." Oliva cut him off, "After Stanton he locked me back up. Lucky for me the cute, big, dumb one let me out."

Everyone looked at Sam.

"Hey, who would suspect the 90-pound blond girl?" Sam challenged, "And at the time I was looking for a ghost!"

That settled, they turned their attention back to Oliva. "No wonder you were locked away." Heddy told her, "You're a monster."

 _I'm not sure it's the best idea to tell her that._ Hannah thought.

"Oh, you have no idea." Oliva responded.

"Oliva, you don't have to do this." Sam urged, "You can still walk away."

"I got a better idea." Oliva smirked, before letting go of Dash and lunging at Sam.

The pair began to struggle for the gun, firing it into the ceiling, causing the rest of the family to cower. Oliva got ahold of the gun before running out another door.

"Stay here." Sam ordered, before exiting the same door Oliva used.

"Did anyone else wet themselves?" Heddy asked.

"Stay here." Hannah repeated, taking out her blade and taking after Sam.

Sam followed Oliva into the kitchen, where the shapeshifter fired at him, only for him to duck down behind the kitchen island. "You don't have a shot." She declared.

"Neither do you." Sam countered.

"Killing you is the next best thing to killing Bobby Singer." Oliva reasoned.

"What's your beef with Bobby?" Sam asked.

"For starters, he killed my father." Oliva answered.

"Lance was a shifter?" Sam responded.

"Lance wasn't my father." Oliva corrected him, "Mother had an affair with a shifter. She got pregnant, told Lance I was his. He bought it…until she brought me home from the hospital. My real dad was waiting. Lance put up a fight, but he was no match for a shifter. And just as my dad was about to take me…the hunter became the hunted."

"Bobby." Sam guessed.

Having that out of the way, Oliva continued. "After Bobby killed my father, he came for me. Mother pleaded with him to spare me. He agreed, under on condition."

Sam had a feeling he knew what that condition was. "That she keep you locked up."

"For my safety, and for the safety of others." Oliva confirmed, "Mother told the family she lost the baby. And she locked me in the attic. But she remained devoted to me until the very end—Even got Bobby to promise to take care of me if anything happened to her."

 _Well, that explains why he was in the will._ Sam thought, but that wasn't the only thing he caught on to. "Wait a minute. Then, Bobby spared you. You should be grateful."

"For what?" Oliva challenged, "Keeping me locked up my whole life? It would have been kinder to kill me."

 _Okay, I'll give her that._ Sam thought, before saying, "Oliva…you don't have to do this. Being a monster is a choice."

"That choice was made for me a long time ago." Oliva responded, sulking through the kitchen, "Why haven't you taken a shot? Oh, you don't have any more silver bullets, do you?"

In truth, Sam's gun was jammed. It was enough time for Oliva to find him, pointing her gun at him. Suddenly a sword ran through and she fell to the ground, revealing Hannah. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Sam answered, getting up, "I think so." Looking down at Oliva, he said, "That's gonna be though to explain to the cops, thought."

Eventually they did figure out something that resembled a plausible explanation, and everyone walked outside while Dash called the cops on his cell phone.

"Yes, officer." Dash was saying, "Yes, thank you very much. Yes, no, you can't miss it. Big house on the end of the street. Alright, by now." Hanging up, he headed towards Sam and Hannah, "Guys? The police are on the way. What a mess. I owe you two an apology."

"I think you mean you owe _Sam_ an apology." Hannah responded tersely.

"Yeah…" Dash began awkwardly.

"Don't sweat it." Sam cut him off, "I mean, you were just protecting your family and…there's nothing wrong with that."

"So, I spoke to Aunt Bunny's attorney." Dash began again, "He said outside the pendent, everything was left to Oliva."

"Hey, you know what?" Sam replied, "Speaking of that…you should keep it." He handed the pendent to Dash, "It's a key to the attic."

"Bobby must have really meant something to Aunt Bunny." Dash commented, "How can we repay you?"

"Just forget we were ever here." Sam requested.

"But you saved our lives." Dash insisted, "I want everyone to know what heroes you…"

"Actually Dash, it's just not a good idea for anyone to know about us." Hannah spoke up, "Please. And remember, I can crush guns like they're tissue paper."

"Right." Dash grinned, "Hey, Sam, I, ah, wouldn't let this one get away if I were you." And with that he walked away.

After retrieving the boys from Jody who had went a hotel room nearby, the groups parted ways with the Winchesters heading back to Kansas. With the boys asleep in the back they drove in near silence until Hannah asked, "Do you need me to drive? I can drive if you need me to."

"It's fine." Sam assured, "I got it."

"Sam, you're human." Hannah insisted, "You're going to need to sleep at some point."

Sam smiled. "If I need to sleep, I'll let you know and we'll switch."

They were silent for a moment again when Hannah said, "Sam?"

"Yeah?" Sam asked.

"What did Dash mean, that you shouldn't let me get away?" Hannah asked,

Suddenly Sam felt his face get hot. "I, ah, I think he thought we were a couple."

"What?!" Hannah balked, her face scrunched in confusion, "Why would he think that?"

"I have no clue." Sam replied, "It's completely ridiculous. I mean, we're not even the same species, well, not that he knew that."

"Still," Hannah said, "It's completely ridiculous." Then she started looking out the window again.


	25. Tree Decorating

"Okay, guys," Sam told everyone as they walked through the store, "I think the trees are this way."

They had been planning on setting putting up a tree for about a week, but when Sam went to get the stuff out, he realized there was one problem with that plan—they had no stuff. Even when they settled in the bunker, they never did anything like put up a tree. This led to scramble to get a tree and—well, basically anything to decorate it with. So far, they had skiing snowman and three of a four-piece wooden carousel horse ornament set.

They walked down an isle where in the middle there was a display of Christmas trees. Regular, large, small, some were green, some were white, some were green but covered with fake snow, some had the lights already attached to them.

"Do you have any idea which one you want?" Hannah asked fingering one of white trees.

"I was thinking maybe we should all make that decision together." Sam explained, "You know, as a family?"

The boys seemed to like that idea, carefully examining every single tree. And there was a lot to consider. Size, price, and just plain aesthetic value. That last one was more of the boys' preview.

What they wound up taking home was about a medium size artificial pre-lit tree, which the adults set up in the stacks.

"What do you think boys?" Sam asked, stepping back, feeling a slight worn victory at being able to finally complete the puzzle that was the tree.

"It's pretty!" Dean exclaimed while Cas nodded in agreement, "Can we put the stuff on it now?"

Sam froze for a minute. "Actually, we don't really have the stuff now, buddy, but we'll get all that together and we can do that in a couple of days, okay?"

The little boys cheered in agreement.

"Alright, little ones." Hannah began, pushing a cart that currently only held two toddlers, "There's a lot of options here, so Mommy might need some input from you."

She and Sam had decided to spilt up and the boys had wanted to go with her.

"Mommy, what does input mean?" Cas asked.

"It means to give someone your opinion." Hannah explained.

"What's an opinion?" Dean asked.

"It's what you think about something." Hannah explained.

By chance, Rawls and Serena Joy were doing some holiday shopping of their own on the same isle. "Hey, I think that's Hannah." Serena Joy announced before calling out to the angel, "Hannah! Hannah, hi!"

The thought of being spotted made Rawls nervous. "Serena…"

"Don't sweat it, she already knows." Serena Joy assured him, still waving at Hannah.

"What?!" Rawls blacked.

Before the conversation could turn into an argument, Hannah approached them with the buggy. "Hello." She greeted them both.

"Hey," Serena Joy greeted them, as Rawls added in an awkward, "Hey," as well. "Let me guess." He speculated, "Christmas shopping?"

"Yes, actually," Hannah confessed, "We didn't really –have any Christmas ornaments and now we're trying to gather some together."

"You don't have any ornaments?" Rawls asked, "Like any? At all?"

"Benedict Rawls, be polite." Serena Joy scolded.

"I'm just making an observation." Rawls protested, "Why'd you gotta bring my first name into this?"

"What's the matter with your first name?" Hannah asked, not realizing she should let this conversation end.

"Nothing," Rawls snarked, "Except it got me beat up my entire life. So, what do, ah, families such as your do for Christmas anyway?" He meant a non-serial killer and his non-girlfriend/wife and their kids, but was trying to be delicate because said kids were present.

"What do you mean families such as ours?" Hannah asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I just meant—that…" Rawls stammered.

Fortunately, his girlfriend was there to save him. "He just meant that—well, you know." When Hannah's eye's widened, she quickly added, "Oh, not _that_ you know, the you know that he knows."

"I don't know what any of that was even about." Rawls informed them.

"Well, Reason's coming over some time in the afternoon." Hannah answered, "And exchanging gifts, which is apparently the thing you do. At least for the kids. What about you too?"

"It's just been Edith and me for Christmas ever since we, um, moved here." Rawls answered, "Though as you, apparently know, I got this one now, and my brother's ex is bringing the kids over, ah, my nieces."

"Oh, that must be nice for you." Hannah replied.

Serena Joy, however, got something else for that. "You never told me Elsbeth was coming!"

"Well, I didn't think you it was that important." Rawls replied, suddenly rather nervous.

"Your ex-girlfriend coming over isn't important?" Serena Joy countered in a whispered hiss.

"Wait, I thought you said…" Hannah began, confused.

"It's complicated." Rawls began, before turning to his _current_ girlfriend, "Serena, this really isn't the time or the place." As he said that he gestured to Hannah and the twins.

"Well, maybe you should have thought about before you brought it up!" Serena Joy responded.

"Um…" Rawls began, not sure how to handle the situation, then tried to change the subject, "You know, what?" He began, walking up to sleeves and grabbing a box of slivery white balls and blue balls, some plain, others decorated with white and sliver designs. "I got these a couple of years ago. They're great. They go with just about anything and practically unbreakable, which, ah, with two active toddlers, I'm sure you'll appreciate."

"Thank you." Hannah said awkwardly sitting them into the cart with the boys.

'Meanwhile, Sam's quest for decoration had taken him to a rather different location: A antique store on the side of the highway.

Sam walked and first thing he noticed was the aluminum tree, just a bit smaller than their own, next to the check out where Asian woman with her onyx hair tied back in prim bun, was organizing what looked like jewelry.

"Can I help you?" She asked, looking up.

"Yeah, ah is that for sale?" Sam asked, pointing at tree.

"Everything but the tree." The women answered, "Everything priced as marked."

Sam looked through ornaments, his face falling as he looked at the price tag on a cotton-and-wood woman dressed in white and blue.

"I know." The woman spoke up, "I try to keep the prices now, but I get so few of those, which is weird, because, they're old but not that rare. I'd suggest looking at the duller kurgels, the glass, the baubles, the wood, the brites, the bottle brush, heck, even the cotton fruit."

Sam found a little wooden mouse ridding a rocking horse, a glass Santa head, two glass rabbits and green glass pinecones. He was about to leave with another ornament caught his eye, and his confusion. "Is that a …pickle?"

"Yeah," The woman answered, stepping out from behind the counter, revealing an abdomen swollen with pregnancy, "You never heard the legend of the pickle?"

"No." Sam answered, "Care to explain?"

"Okay, so in the 1880s Woolworth stores start selling glass ornaments imported from Germany, shaped like different fruits and vegetables." The woman began, "Perhaps not coincidentally, claims started to spread about very old Christmas tradition in which a pickle is that last ornament hung on the tree, and the first child to find the pickle got an extra present. However, it's a tradition practically no one in Germany has heard of to this day." After a beat she asked, "You see where I'm going with this?"

"Yeah, I think I do." Sam replied.

"But still, people actually started to do it." The woman finished, "Ergo, I get pickles on my tree." After a beat she added, "There's also the story of Saint Nicholas resurrecting two boys who's body had been hidden in a pickle barrel, but in the very earliest versions that was a meet barrel."

Sam looked down at the pickle. Maybe he should have one on his tree to too?

At last the two groups arrived back at the bunker with their loot, which they carefully disported on a table in the stacks.

"Can we trim the tree now, Daddy?" Castiel asked, staring up at Sam with large blue eyes. How did such small creatures have such big eyes?

"Yeah, buddy." Sam answered, "Yeah, we can trim the tree now."

"Yay!" Dean cheered, grabbing the cloth and foam snowman, which was bigger than his hand. And ran for the tree, reaching up for a place to put it.

"Dean, wait, let Mommy and Daddy help you!" Sam ordered, running after him.

Meanwhile, Cas had grabbed one of the carousel horses in one hand and his friend Coat in the other and slowly approached the tree. He decided that he was going to be like Dean. He was going to be brave and put the horse high up on the tree. And he had something Dean didn't.

Cas fluttered his wings, getting a few inches off the ground, but his wings were still small and covered with mostly downy feathers. He felt on his bottom to the ground, hard. The little angel stuck his lip and started to cry in pain and disappointment.

Hannah quickly scooped him up. "Are you alight?"

Cas nodded, but tears were still in his eyes.

"I'm going to check you over anyway, okay?" Hannah told him.

Seeing Hannah examining Cas, Sam came over to them. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine." Hannah assured him, before kissing Cas' forehead "Now what were you trying to do little one?"

Cas pointed up to where he wanted to point the horse. "Horsey."

Sam took him for Hannah. "I think I can help with that bud." He raised the tiny angel up to higher points of the tree. "Now where do you want it?"

Cas pointed. "Here."

Sam leaned in and Cas put the horse on.

Later on, as the boys were decorating the lower branches and Hannah was putting up one of the green pinecones, she felt a hand on her arms. She turned around and saw Sam standing next to her.

"When I was out, I found something." He told her, before pulling out a box, inside it a slender, faceless angel holding a small bundle that was meant to be a baby. Written on the angel's white dress in cursive was _Mother._ "I couldn't help but think of you."

"It's beautiful." Hannah breathed, "Oh, Sam, thank you."

"You don't have to say that." Sam responded, feeling heat rising in his cheeks, "Go put it on the tree."

It took a good half hour to get every ornament on the tree. Well, almost every ornament.

"Hey, guys," Sam began, crouching so that he was about as tall as they were, "I got something I want to show you." He pulled out the pickle. "You see, it's been a tradition in Germany, or at least since the 1920s, that this is the last ornament put on the tree, and then whoever can find it on Christmas day gets an answer present."

The boys' eyes widened and they both squealed. "Can I put it on?!" Dean asked.

"No!" Castiel, unusually bold, protested, "I wanna do it!"

"Daddy's gonna do it." Sam told them, "But I need you two to turn around so you each have fair chance."

The toddlers turned around and Sam carefully put if one the tree. Standing back, he noted, "Hmmm. Something's still missing." After a beat he said, "I know, it needs something on top." He swung around, unable to help himself, grabbing Cas and acting like he was going to sit him on top.

"Daddy, put me down!" Cas protested, kicking his legs, "I'se not a tree topper."

"Well that really depends on who you ask." Sam quipped before chuckling. "Okay, okay, here you go. "He set Cas down next to Dean. Sam took a box from the table and pulled out a gold wire star, "Now this," He began, "Seems a bit more appropriate." With that he carefully set the star atop the tree.

"Yeah, you're right, bud," Sam noted, stepping back, "That's much better."

"Pretty." Cas, over being indigent over being considered a tree ornament, complimented in what could almost be described as awed.

"Yeah, pretty." Dean repeated, nodding.

The family looked at the tree as a whole glittery glass, the green and the blue and the sliver, bright lights, the large snowman that stood out on the side in a cluster of sparkly balls, plain but well craved wood, and indeed, it was beautiful.


	26. Snow Bound Part 1

Reason stared outside the window as she scrapped off a piece of gum that some jerk had stuck to the bottom of the table. They'd been calling for a big snow storm but nothing was coming down yet. That was a good sign. Now if only her replacement would arrive on time.

No one else was currently in the dinner other than those on duties, Edith was leaned up against the bar with her guitar, getting some inpartu practice in. _"Well, Santa looked a lot like Daddy. Or Daddy looked a lot like him. He's not the way I had him pictured. Santa was much too thin. He didn't come down the chimney, so Mama must have let him in. Santa looked a lot like Daddy. Or Daddy looked a lot like him. Well, thought that I was…"_

"Ah, put a shock in it, will ya?!" Karine, a rather bad-tempered waitress about the same age as Serena Joy, who had worked the seven to three shift that day, snapped. Neither of the girls worked with Karine much, but when they did, it was never a nice experience, they had no clue how she kept her job.

"Hey, "Sal, the cook on duty, putting his head through the window, "Leave her alone." He looked over at Edith, "Keep playing, honey."

Edith started playing again as a sandy-haired boy in a dark jacket walked through the door.

That was Reason's cue to leave. "I tried to make it clean for you." She told him, standing up and grabbing two Styrofoam boxes of leftovers.

"Much appreciated." The other bus boy replied, "Have a good night."

"You too, John." Reason called back walking out. Starting across the parking lot, she took her phone out of her jacket and dialed Sam's number. "Hey, Sam." She greeted him, "I hope I didn't wake you up."

"No, it's fine." Sam assured her, thought his voice was laced with sleep.

Reason felt a twinge of guilt. She knew she should have called Hannah, since she didn't sleep, but she could never remember her number.

Sam didn't give her too long to dwell on it. "I take it this means you're on your way to get Maudie?"

"Yeah," Reason confirmed, "I should be there in a little bit."

"And do you have a ride?" Sam asked. He didn't want her walking out at night that late, especially with snow threatening to come down at any moment. That was a good way to get yourself killed.

"It's fine." Reason answered, officially leaving the parking lot.

Sam was going to take that as a no. "Stay there," He ordered, getting out of bed, "I'm coming to get you."

"Sam, no." Reason protested, "It's fine. I can get there."

"Reason, it's the middle of the night, and it's calling for snow, you _cannot_ walk all the way here." Sam argued.

Just then, her phone started picking up static. "Sam, I think I'm about to lose you." Reason informed him.

"Reason, don't do that." Sam requested.

"I'm serious—" Reason got out before she completely lost him. She put the phone in her jacket and trudged on.

Hannah was sitting in the boy's room, where the children had decided to cram all into one bed with a bear, two stuffed iguanodons, one green, one purple, Coat, the white seal, and blonde baby doll between the three of them, when she heard a _plop,_ from somewhere else in the bunker.

As Hannah stood up, Castiel's eyes opened, "Mommy?" He began, his voice extremely sleepy, "What that noise?"

"I don't know, little one." Hannah answered, reaching into her coat and touching her angel blade, "But I'm going to go see." As she walked pass, Maudie woke up as well. "Stay here," She told them both, and stepped out of the room.

Hannah started down the hall towards Sam's room, only for the hunter to come out, still half asleep, trying to get a sock on.

"Sam?" Hannah spoke up to get his attention, "What are you doing?"

"Going to get Reason." Sam answered, "She called, we got into a bit of argument over whether she could make it here on her own, you can probably guess who was on which side, and then the phone went dead. I have to get her before she gets too far out, gets herself into trouble."

"Sam, no." Hannah responded, "You're still half asleep. _I'll_ go. You just—stay here with the kids, you woke them up while you were getting dressed."

"Oh." Sam said, "Sorry."

Five minutes later, Reason was trudging down the side of the road. Her eyes had somewhat adjusted to the dark, but since she had hit the spot without a lot, if any lights, she still couldn't see a thing. That was when she felt it. The first drop of cold wet. _Oh, great, just great._ She thought surpassing a groan as she continued down the road.

Just then a pair of highlights appeared on the highway, and a Lincoln Continual pulled up next to Reason and the window pulled down. "Are you alright?" Hannah asked.

"Hannah?" Reason asked in surprised, stopping, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." Hannah answered, "Now get in."

Since she had gone all the way out here, Reason opened the door and slid in. "You know, you really didn't have to do this." She told Hannah.

"Reason, it's fine." Hannah assured her, "Just out of curiosity, what happened to Serena? I can't see her letting you walk on a night like this."

"We were working different shifts today." Reason answered, "And she thought I found another way to get there."

Hannah was silent for a moment. "So, you lied to your friend?" She asked finally.

"I didn't lie." Reason denied, "She just made an assumption and I felled to correct her." She couldn't believe she had just said that. She'd be spending too much time around Rawls. However, her mind was too foggy to dwell on it very long. The warmth of the car had remaindered her how tired she was, and she let out a yawn she couldn't fight.

"You know what, why don't you just stay the night." Hannah offered.

"No, I shouldn't I'm back on the day shift tomorrow." Reason explained.

Hannah was silent for a moment, thinking that over. "So, by the time you get Maudie back to sleep and get to sleep yourself you'll just have to get back up again?"

Reason nodded, her eyes unable to stay open any longer. Before she knew what was happening, she lost consciousness.

When Hannah pulled into garage, she went over to the other side of the car and carefully picked reason up and carried her through the halls.

Coming to her room, which she rarely used, she walked inside and laid Reason down on the bed. Taking off her jacket and she laid it on the sleeping form. Turning around she saw an incriminating Wal-Mart bag.

Hannah stared at the bag a moment thinking. Maybe she should just drop all pretense and give those to Reason tomorrow? It was going to be cold tomorrow. Really cold. So cold the rain was freezing. Then again, given Reason's inability to easily accept help, she just hid the bags behind some other things she'd been hiding from certain other people, shut the door, then grabbed the containers of leftovers Reason had with her to put in the fridge.

Walking pass the boys' room, Hannah poked her head in. She saw the children, back asleep, but now Sam was curled on the floor, next to them.

Hannah smiled before walking off, noting to herself to bring him a planet on the way back.

The next morning Reason was woken up by the sound of her phone ringing. She slowly raised up, looking around and realized she had no clue where she was. Her heard was beating faster and she began to panic, then she saw Hannah's jacket in her lap. Realizing what must have happened, she decided to deal with it in a minute, and picked up her phone. "Hello?"

"Reason, that you?" A voice she recognized as Howard Bundren, the Hot Spot's manager, asked.

"Yeah," Reason answered, "Oh my gosh, am I late? Sir, I am, so, so, sorry—"

"No, you're not late." Howard cut her off, "Actually, I'm calling to tell you not to come. The storm took the power out and it might be a few days before we can get someone out here with the roads."

Reason was still confused. "The—the roads?"

"Kid, have you seen outside?" Howard asked.

"No, actually," Reason said, stepping out into the hall. She had never been in this part of the bunker and she honestly had no idea how to find the parts she knew. "I fell asleep at the baby sitters. Mr. Bundren, I think I'm gonna have to call you back."

"Alright," Howard agreed, "I'll let you know when everything's running again."

They hung up and Reason walked down the hall. "Hello?" She called out, "Anybody there?"

Just then Hannah walked out, "Now, I know you said you needed to go back, but you asleep when we got here and there was no point in waking you up. Sam's getting the kids up right now, one of us will drive you in, you can still make it to work."

"Actually, ah, that's not a problem anymore." Reason informed her," My boss just called. Apparently, the storm took out the power and they're closed into they fix it. Apparently, it could be a couple of days."

Just then Sam can up, still in his t-shirt. "Well, I'm not surprised," He said, "Come look."

The women followed Sam to the front door which he opened to reveal a world cover in a thick layer of white. They couldn't even see the road. "The only reason we have power is because the bunker had its own grid." Sam informed them, "Looks like we're snowbound until they clear off the roads."

Not really having any options, the three set to getting breakfast together. Everyone sitting at the table, Maudie looked down at her bacon dubiously, then to her mother. "Mommy, "She began, "Why you staying here?"

Reason's heart clinched. "Well, the dinner's closed for today." She explained finally, "The storm cut the power out, and there's too much snow to get there."

Maudie's eyes lit up. "Can we go see it?!"

"After you eat breakfast." Reason instructed.

"Can we see the snow, too Daddy?" Dean asked hopefully.

"If you both finish your breakfast too." Sam promised.

Suddenly an idea started to form in Reason's head. "Hey, Sam, ah, as long as we're going outside, do you have a cookie sheet?"

After breakfast they bundled up the children and took them outside. Dean and Maudie immediately ran out into the snow, but Castiel seemed more than a little dubious about their indevour.

"Come on, bud." Sam said, crouching down to his level, "It's fun. See what you can do with it?" He started gathering snow in his hand until he had a firm ball.

"What dat for?" Cas asked.

Suddenly, San got sneaky, mean idea in his hand. "For this." He then threw it, hitting Hannah on the side.

Hannah looked down at where the snow had hit her, bits of it still cleaning to her clothes, shocked and baffled. What had he done that for?

Reason grabbed up a handful snow. "Here's how you response to that." She said, before throwing the ball.

However, it missed, hitting Cas.

Reason covered her mouth with my hands in dismayed shock. "Oh my gosh, Cas, baby, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean—" That was when she felt something hit her from behind. She turned to see Dean had figured out how to make snowballs and avenge his brother and was currently trying to make more ammo.

"Okay," Reason said, grabbing another handful of snow, "If that's the way you want it, it's on."

Soon a snowball battle of the sexes broke out, Hannah, Reason and Maudie on one side, Sam, Dean and Castiel on the other. The girls were doing rather better in the fight, if only by way of having bigger hands on their team.

"Okay," Sam told his troops from behind the pitiful wall they had made, at that point more like half a wall—again, small hands, "I don't think we have a choice. Follow my lead." He raised his hand and came out from behind their wall. "We surrender!" He called out, walking towards the girls' walls with the boys, who had their hands up as well.

They girls walked out to meet them halfway. "So, what do you think we should do with them?" Reason quipped.

Maudie responded, by grabbing another small handful of snow and throwing it at Sam, hitting his knee. Then she took several more small wads and keep throwing it at him.

"Yeah, that's not quite what I had in mind, sweetie." Reason said, pulling her back.

Hannah was suddenly very concerned for any captives Maudie might take in an actual battle.

As it turns out, snowballs fights weren't the only thing you could do with snow. They opted for one tall body, and a round head.

"Okay, now here's come the part me and—someone—always sucked as at kids." Sam said. Every time he and Dean had tried to make a snowman, they always wound up dropping the head at some point. On time it just rolled over the body and kept rolling into it hit a car.

Fortunately, this time around Dean and his friends had better luck and with a little help from their moms got the head up without a problem.

"Ise don't dink dis looks right." Cas noted, looking at it.

Seeing two sticks on the ground, Reason went over to and got them. Not sure what was going on, Hannah took a step back as the teen came back. "Anyone want to help me with the arms?"

All three toddlers grabbed an arm and made a rather uncoordinated attempt to jam it into the snowman sides. "This way," Dean instructed at helm, trying aiming from the upper part of the snowman.

"No, down!" Maudie argued, pulling her end of the branch towards the bottom half of the snowman.

Reason murmured a simple inaction under her breath and the branch stringed out, and the tobblers were able to stick into the snowman's side.

Hannah looked over at Reason with a questioning face. Reason suddenly remembered she was standing next to a messenger of God and lowered her head her cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

Just then, Sam who no one had noticed left, came back with a bag of carrots. "Anyone want to put the nose on?"

"Ooh, ooh, I do!" Dean said, jumping up and down.

As Sam handed the carrot to Dean, Cas protested, "Hey, I wanna put de nose on too!"

"Me, too!" Maudie chimed in.

"Okay, how about a compromise?" Sam suggested, tumbling in his pockets, "Cas, you can put on the eyes," He pulled out a pair of black buttons he had found and handed them to Cas, "And Maudie, you can put on the mouth." He handed her a twister. It was all he could find.

He then grabbed Cas and Hannah scooped up Dean and Reason took Maudie. Sam raised up so he could reach the snowman's head and the little angel carefully placed the eyes in the snowman's face. Then Dean stuck the nose in, tip of the carrot going in first. Then Maudie put on the mouth. When they looked back the eyes were a bit too far apart, the fat end of the nose where the steam had been cut, and the smile a bit crooked, but the kids were stratified with it, do the adults were fine with it.

"Can we make another one?" Cas asked.

"Sure, bud." Sam said, "We can make another one."

Three snowmen later, the kids were about ready to go in, but there was still something they needed to do first.

"Remember only clean snow." Reason instructed as the children packed snow into the baking sheet she had brought out with them, "None with dirt in it, and definitely no yellow snow." After a beat she glanced at Sam and Hannah and asked, "You guys have maple syrup, right?"

"Yeah," Sam began slowly, "Why?"

When they go inside, they found out. Reason sat the pan down on the kitchen counter and took the syrup from the fridge and began to pour it onto the snow-filled pan in swirls, hardening into amber candy almost instantly.

The children were amazed by the frozen syrup, all loops and fragile, sugared filigree, like a sparkly edible lace.

"Where did you learn this?" Hannah asked, staring at the loops.

Reason a little distracted, breaking off pieces of her perfect rolls to give to edger hands. "My Mom use to do this with us when we kid." She said softly, before breaking off a pace and putting it in her mouth, starting a staring contest with the counter.

"Us?" Hannah, repeated.

"My…sister and me." Reason explained, squirming uncomfortably.

Hannah was silent for a moment. "You never told us you had a sister."

"Well, I haven't really seen her, them, since…after I got pregnant." Reason finally got out.

That didn't seem right to Hannah. "Reason…what happened?"

Suddenly Reason's very soul felt hot as suddenly once again she remembered she was talking to an angel. "I think you already know."

"Why would –" Hannah began, then suddenly remember the only detail Reason had ever gave them about her family, sans Maudie, before now. "Reason, things might be exactly like what you heard."

Reason was quietly for a long them, then decided to just change the subject. "We should probably head to the stacks. We left Sam all by himself with three of them."

When they walked into the stacks and found Sam crouch in front of a soft green cat with blue paws and two cloth eggs saying, "I didn't know cats could lay eggs. I thought they were mammals…"

"Mammals can lay eggs." Maudie informed, "Platypus lay eyes and theys mammals."

"Is that so?" Reason spoke up.

That got Maudie's attention and she turned to her mother. "Mommy, kittybaby laided eggs!"

"Is that so?" Reason asked, as if she was totally buying it.

"Uh-huh." Maudie confirmed, grinning and nodding.

A few months ago, Hannah would have some serious questions but now she just went with it and scanned the room for her own children, and found them building a nest of some sort out of blanket. Maudie ran from her mother and picked up the eggs in one hand and dragged kitty baby by the tail to the nest where Dean took the eggs from her and carefully laid the eggs in the nest and Maudie carefully put kitty baby on top patting her several times. Cas looked at Coat nervously before draping it over the stuffed cat. Then they all sat downs. "Nows we half to wait." Maudie informed them. When she realized they were the only ones on egg watch she turned to the adults and pointed, "Sit."

Sam was the first to submit. Sitting Indian-style on the floor next to Dean.

Reason turned to Hannah and shrugged before walking to the growing vigil. Hannah followed after her, deciding anything else would have to wait.


	27. Snow Bound Part 2

It may come as a surprise to you, but watching cat eggs is not the most stimulating activity in the whole world.

Of course, it would help if there was any hope of the eggs actually hatching.

Suddenly Dean started to shake the nest. "I think theys hatching!" He declared like he actually believed the eggs were hatching. He started to split it turning the inside out slowly revealing a green iguanodon.

"Dat's not a kitty!" Castiel exclaimed, "Dat a dinosaur."

"Kitties can have dinosaur babies!" Maudie protested.

"Nun-un!" Cas responded.

"Uh-huh!" Maudie argued.

"Nun-un!" Cas repeated.

"Uh-huh!" Maudie repeated right back to him.

Trying to break up the fight Sam said, "Guys, look! The other egg's hatching."

Sure enough, Dean was pulling back the egg, revealing the purple dinosaur inside.

"Yay!" Maudie cheer, clapping.

Worried about where this was going, Reason whispered in her daughter's ear, "Maudie, you know this doesn't make those dinosaurs yours, right?"

Maudie's face fell, but she nodded her head in acceptance.

"This is Green Dinosaur." Dean was saying, pointing the green dinosaur, "And this is Purple Dinosaur."

"I see that." Sam grinned.

"Ah, Sam, I think that's what he's naming them." Hannah spoke up.

"Oh." Sam responded. Well, they were two, so, maybe they would get more creative in time?

Perhaps sensing his father's disapproval, Dean asked, "What do you think we should name them, Daddy?"

Sam sat there for a minute in thought. He couldn't really think of any good names for them either.

That was when Hannah spoke up. "Why you call that one Vert and that the one Violet?"

"I like them Mommy." Cas spoke up.

"Me, too." Maudie agreed.

That being settled the trio went to play with the dinosaur/kittens.

"Hey, Hannah, how did you come up with those names?" Sam asked latter, putting bread in a pan. Today seemed like a good day for hot sandwiches.

"What names?" Hannah asked.

"You know Vert, and Violet." Sam elaborated.

"It's French for green and purple." Hannah answered.

Sam, unable to help himself, laughed out loud. "Clever!" He complimented.

Hannah was silent for a minute, scanning the area to make sure they were alone. "Sam, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Sam replied, adding the cheese and second piece of bread, brushing it with butter.

"Has Reason ever told you anything about…. where she comes from?" Hannah asked.

Sam turned his head. "What do you mean?"

"Like, if she had any other family." Hannah elaborated.

"I don't think so." Sam replied, turning back to the pan. After he said, "Well there was that thing she said about her father on the day of …. well, you know, the incident." After another beat, he added, "Why do you ask?"

"It was just something she said after she made that candy." Hannah responded suddenly almost uncomfortable.

Sam could see where this was going. "Look, Hannah, here's something you should know about humans." He began, "Not all of us are that open, partially when it comes to something painful. If Reason wants to tell you about it, she will. But if not, don't pry. Remember, curiosity killed the cat." That was when he smelled the Smoak. "Oh, crap!" He exclaimed turning around and removing the burnt sandwich from the pan as alarms blared.

Fortunately, Dean was no more picky as child then he was an adult, and happily took the brunt sandwich. After lunch, the toddlers went down for a nap with unusual ease, as they were tuckered out from playing in the snow, leaving the adults at a lost for what to do with themselves. Eventually they settled on laundry.

"You know, you really don't have to help with this." Sam insisted, as Reason was sorting out some whites, "None of this is even yours." To be fair the same thing could be said of Hannah, who was also sorting clothes.

"It's fine." Reason replied, not looking up, "Gives me something to do. Besides, it's sort of nice to use a proper washing machine and dryer for once."

Hannah however, was preoccupied with the children and kept peering back in the direction of their room.

"Go check on them." Sam told her, knowing that was what she wanted.

"Thank you." Hannah breathed, hurrying in that direction.

Reason cocked her head in confusion, warning what that was all about. She hadn't heard anything.

"Hannah's a bit of a helicopter mom." Sam explained, "She's gotten to a habit of watching over the kids, you could say, while they sleep. She's been trying to quit but-it's not easy."

"No, I get that." Reason replied, "When Maudie was baby, I'd check on her every two minutes just to make sure she was still breathing. Even now I catch myself just—watching her sleep a lot."

"Just between you me," Sam began, "Me, too."

"It's like—" Reason began, trying to find a way to articulate what she was feeling, "They look so-delicate, you know? Beautiful. I'd like to say angelic but-" She gestured down the hall with her shoulder.

Sam couldn't help but laugh.

"I swear, that kid's the best thing I've ever done." Reasoned finished, putting a load in the washer.

Suddenly Sam was tempted to ask. Stuffing that temptation down, he instead changed the subject. "So, ah, how's the witchcraft going?"

Reason froze.

"I know you're still practicing." Sam said, "I saw you help the kids with that stick by levitating it."

"You couldn't have." Reason responded, "You were inside getting those—" Her voice trailed off when she realized that was as far away from a denial as she could get.  
"Look, I get it, I do, the appeal of that kind of power," Sam told her, "But I also know experience but power really can corrupt, and corrupt fast. Then it's all downhill."

"That and I suck at it?" Reason pointed out.

"I wasn't gonna say anything." Sam replied.

"But I did turn you brother and your friend into toddlers?" Reason responded. She was silent for a moment, folding one of the boys' shirt. "You know, it wasn't supposed to be like this."

"Yeah, I figured you hadn't talked about going into to sorcery with your guidance consular. "Sam quipped.

Reason couldn't help but laugh. "No, no, actually I wanted to be a lawyer." She paused for a moment, not believing she had just said that. She was getting way too open with these people.

"Really?" Sam replied, surprised by the cocidence.

"Yeah, really." Reason confirmed, seeing not point in denying it, "I want to help people."

"You know, I actually wanted to be a lawyer too at one point." Sam told her, "Went to pre-law and everything."

"Really?" Reason responded, "What happened?"

"Uh, life I guess you could say." Sam answered.

Before the conversation could go any further, there was noise from outside, the honking of a horn and a familiar female voice yelling, "Yo! Bus girl! You in there?!"

"Serena?" Reason asked, before she and Sam ran towards the noise.

They ran outside to find sure enough, when they opened the door, they saw Serena Joy jumping out of her car, which somehow had fastened a metal sheet to, making a homemade snow plow. "There you are!" She exclaimed marching up to Reason, "I've been looking everywhere for you, you're not answering your phone, I couldn't even _get_ your phone, I shoveling my way to your place you're not there, what, are you allergic to giving me pace of mind?!"

"You—plowed—through—snow—to find me?" Reason deadpanned, still processing what was happening.

"Well, how else was I gonna find ya?" Serena Joy asked, as if what she was done was just common sense, "Especially with the city being as slow as Christmas about it."

That was when Hannah marched outside, looking extremely crossed. "What is going on out here?" She demanded.

"Serena Joy was trying to find Reason." Sam explained.

"That doesn't explain all the screaming." Hannah responded, before turning to the women in question, "You're going to wake my kids. And her kid."

Just then as if on cue, crying came from in the house.

Everyone ran into the bunker and down the hall where Maudie and the boys were sleeping. Hannah, who was leading the procession, burst open the door to see Cas sitting up the bed, crying.

"Castiel, sweetie, what's wrong?" Hannah asked, falling to her knees in front of him.

Cas finally got clam enough to talk. "Loud noise." He sniffled.

"Oh, I know." Hannah said, taking him or arms, "I'm sorry."

Serena Joy's cheeks went red. "Sorry, little guy." She said, "I didn't think—"

"Get away from him!" Hannah snapped, physically pulling Cas away even Serena Joy was nowhere near him. This only caused Cas to cry more.

"I don't think that's helping, Hannah." Sam spoke up.

"Mmm, what all that noise?" Maudie wined, her tiny hands over her tiny ears.

Reason walked over, crouching down by Maudie and stroking her hair. "There's just a little—disagreement." She began, but everything's fine now."

"Mommy stay?" Maudie requested.

"Yeah, sure, Mommy will stay." Reason replied, laying down next to her.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna—step out." Serena Joy said, running out of the room.

Sam went to check on Dean, who had managed to sleep through the whole ordeal. "You know, you probably shouldn't be too hard on her." He said, "It's not like she knew we'd be in the middle of nap time."

"She plowed through icy streets, likely putting herself and others at risk and then showed up here screaming like a manic." Hannah summarized in a whispered hiss over Castiel's shoulder, "That cannot be normal." After a beat she asked, "Is that normal?"

Sam sighed. "No, it's not. But—she was just worried about her friend. Trust me, I've done must worst for the people of I love."

Hannah glared at him. "Yes, I'm wildly aware."

For a minute Sam felt as if he had been shot, as he remembered, oh, yeah, Hannah was still part of a species that hated him since the beginning of time.

Realizing what she had done, or at the very least like it sounded like, she said, "Sam, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean…."

"You know, what, it's alright." Sam assured her, thought he still sounded a little hurt, "You just want to be mad for a while, I get it. If you need me, I'll be outside." And with that, he fled the room as well.

Sam walked out to find Senera Joy sitting on the ground. "Hey." He said to her.

"Hey," Serena Joy responded, looking up, "They still mad in there?"

"Yeah," Sam replied, sitting down next to her, "I think Reason might be calming down, but Hannah…"

"I don't blame her." Serena Joy admitted, "I know I went too far on this one." After a beat she asked, "Why do you look like somebody ran over your dog all of a sudden?"

"I was trying to talk to Hannah and—let's just say things took a turn I didn't expect." Sam explained.

"You want to tell me what that was all about?" Reason whispered, still lying on the floor next to Maudie.

"It's a long story." Hannah whispered back rubbing her temples, "Why, why did I say that?"

"You know, if you want to go talk to him, I got this." Reason said.

Hannah looked down to see Cas had fallen asleep in her arms. "Thank you." She said, carefully laying the little angel back in the bed, and running out.

Meanwhile, Serena Joy and Sam had gone into the stacks and had found a way to distract themselves from the current conflict: Giftwrapping.

"Figure'd you guys would this done by now." Senera Joy commented, carefully wrapping a doll.

"Well, the kids are almost always around, so makes it a little hard without them seeing." Sam explained, putting a box under the tree.

"Um, when they're asleep?" Serena Joy suggested.

"That's like the only time we actually get to sleep." Sam countered, "Or more spefically me. And Hannah's not that good at wrapping on her own."

"Believe him, it's horrible." A voice said behind him.

They both turned around to see Hannah standing in the doorway. "The kids are back asleep." Hannah told them. Then she looked first at Serena Joy. "Serena Joy, I'm sorry." She said, "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"It's alright." Serena Joy assured her, "I had it commin'."

Hannah turned to Sam. "But you didn't." She paused a minute, trying to gather her thoughts. "Sam, I shouldn't have said what I did back there. I was only trying to help and…. I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say but that."

Sam reached out and pulled her into an embrace. "You don't have to say anything else."

They stayed like that for what felt like forever the hug and broke and Hannah asked, "What made you think to start wrapping?"

Later after the children hand woke up, Sam took the children outside so that the girls could finish wrapping.

"So, what do you want to do guys?" Sam asked.

"Can we have another snowball fight?" Maudie asked excitedly.

"No!" Cas protested, wrapping his arms around himself, "I don't wanna."

"I wanna build another snowman!" Dean exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear and doing a little exciting dance.

"Yeah!" Cas agreed, jumping up and down. "Snow man, snow man!" The he stomped over his boot, and fell in the snow.

"You okay, bud?" Sam and crouching them next to him.

Cas nodded as Sam helped him up.

"Wow, a literal snow angel." Sam commented, looking at imprint and chuckling.

"Daddy, what's a snow angel?" Dean asked.

"What's a snow angel?" Maudie repeated.

"It'd be better if I show you." Sam said, "I'm gonna need everybody to step back."

The toddlers stepped back, but Sam still didn't have enough room.

"Little further." Sam instructed.

This time they got just far enough away.

"That's better." Sam began, "So, you lay down like this." He laid down, "And then you move your arms and legs like this." Sam moved his arms and legs back and forth several timed before he started getting back up. "And when you get done, you have something that looks something like an angel."

"Oooh." Dean and Cas moaned, awed.

"Pretty." Maudie commented, in a similar state.

"You guys want to try now?" Sam asked.

There were nods all around. Cas fell to the ground first, then Dean on one side of him and Maudie on the other, and all three started moving their little arms and legs back and forth to make wings and skirts.

Fifteen minutes later, they had half a garrison of snow angels on the ground and toddlers were ready to move on to something else.

Without the help of two other adults it took a longer and came out kind of lumpy and smaller than the rest, but soon enough they had fourth snowman.

"Nice job guys." Sam told them, even though it wasn't there best work. For a bunch of two years old it was impressive.

"What 'bout the face?" Maudie asked.

Sam paused a minute. Getting stuff for the face would require going back into the bunker and he had no clue if the girls were done yet, but he couldn't leave them out here unsupervised. "Follow me, guys."

Meanwhile inside, Hannah and Reason were working out how to wrap up the stuffed Loch Nest Monster Reason had got Maudie.

"Where did you even find that thing?" Serena Joy asked, bringing over a tape holder.

" _Goodwill."_ Reason answered sheepishly, "There was sale, and she—asked for a dinosaur and she also asked for Kittybaby to have baby and there was this little kitten holding a blanket and—" She fell into her seat and slumped, "Uhhh, I'm a terrible mother, aren't I?"

"No," Hannah assured her.

"You're just broke." Serena Joy added in, "You're not the only one to do this."

"Now, I think I might have figured out how to wrap this neck." Hannah said, trying distract Reason.

Serena Joy however, had another idea. Fining the nearest radio, she turned the nob until she could fine a clear station, that just happened to have the perfect song to sway coming on. _"Ohhhh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh. We found one in the closet, and one in a drawer. There's no hiding place we won't find anymore. We'd shake every present for any small clue, of what lies beneath the words 'from me to you.'"_

The women looked as Serena Joy danced her way to them.

"Come on," Serena Joy encouraged, reaching out to Reason, "Don't make me dance alone."

Giving her friend a small smile, Reason took Serena Joy's hand and the older girl pulled her up and they started to dance. _But for every present left under the tree, there are things that we hope for, but never receive. And the years and yearning can make forget to be filled with wonder instead of regret…"_

Just then Sam opened the door with the children behind and heard the music. "Ah, guys," He called out, "Are you finished with what you're doing?!"

"Pretty much." Hannah called back.

"So, ah, can I bring the kids down?" Sam asked, "We ah, made another snowman and need to get stuff for his face."

"Sam Winchester, come on down!" Another voice, Serena Joy's Sam thought called out.

Taking that as yes Sam headed down in the direction. What he found when he got there was a wrapped gift on the table, the rest still hid, Hannah sitting at the table, while Serena Joy gave Reason and

uncoordinated twirl.

"What do we have here?" Sam smirked.

"I believe it's what you call dancing, Sam." Serena Joy smirked back.

Dean was already into it, taking Sam by the wrists and twirling him around.

"Hey!" Maudie protested, "I wanna dance too."

Reason and Serena Joy unjoined their hands, "Get over here."

Maudie ran over to her mother and her mother's dance partner, taking a hand from each of them and joining in the dance.

Sam approached Hannah from behind offering my hand, "Want to join in?"

"I don't know…" Hannah answered.

"Come on." Sam urged, "Look, everyone else is doing it."

"Sam, I've never…" Hannah began, "I've never danced before."

"Then I'll show you." Sam offered.

"Alright." Hannah relented, letting herself be led up from the chair.

"Now, I'm the man and I'm taller so I lead." Sam instructed, beginning to move her to the music.

 _When you want to forgive but the wound is to deeps, and you ache for forgiveness for the secrets you keep…._

Still tense, Hannah stepped on Sam's foot.

"Ow!" Sam shouted in surprised pain.

"Sorry." Hannah responded, urgently, pulling back with a wince on her face.

"It's alright." Sam assured her, pulling her back in. "You're only beginning."

Things went slightly smoother after that. Hannah had several more missteps but Sam was there to guide her, swaying to whatever song came on while Maudie ran in-between Reason and Serena Joy and Dean and Castiel jumped up and down, holding each other hands.

Eventually the children remember why they had come inside in the first place and after procuring a carrot, two buttons another twister which was still the best thing they could find for a mouth, and everyone gathered round as the kids place the pieces on the face.'

"Nice work, Kiddos!" Serena Joy exclaimed, snapping pictures of the snowman with her phone, "Gorgeous, just gorgeous."

"Not bad, guys." Reason agreed.

"And Mommy, look!" Dean exclaimed, pulling at Hannah's sleeve and pointing to the ground, "We made snow angels!"

Hannah's face contorted into a look of confusion. "Those aren't…"

"They look angels." Dean explained.

"We don't look like that." Hannah whispered to Sam.

"I know Hannah." Sam whispered, "I know, just go with it."

At the end of day, Sam heated up the leftover chili Reason had brought over the night before.

"Thanks for letting us stay for dinner guys." Reason said, sitting Maudie's bowel in front of her.

"Well, considering it's _your_ chili, it seemed like the polite thing to do." Sam quipped.

Dean took a spoonful of the chili and started screaming at it. "Ahhh!"

"He's still doing that?" Reason asked.

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "Dean, you don't need to scare your food. It can't think or feel anything. It's not gonna fight back."

"Daddy, why is it called chili?" Cas asked.

"Ah…" Sam began, "Because people tend to eat it when its chili."

"Oh." Cas responded, before digging into his bowel.

"Sam," Hannah began, "Is that true?"

"I don't know." Sam whispered back to her, "But I'm going with it."

After dinner was done and things had been somewhat put up, Serena Joy took Reason home, since the roads were clear, leaving Sam and Hannah alone with the boys. They did something unusual that night and let the kids fall asleep in front of the TV, specifically Christmas specials.

"I know I don't know much about this holiday, but I don't see what Leprechauns have to do with Christmas." Hannah said, running a hand through Cas' feathers as she snoozed curled up on her lap.

"Yeah, I like the ones with Rudolf better." Sam admitted, "Or the one where Angela Lansbury voices a nun. That's one nice."

Putting her questions about that aside, Hannah noted, "The boys' seemed to enjoy themselves to day. Maudie too."

"Yeah, kids and now are a good combination." Sam declared.


	28. The Night Before Christmas

"Okay, everybody!" Howard called out, holding several sets of straws in his hand, "It's time!"

Howard Bundren did not keep his dinner open all day on the major holidays. It just didn't seem like one of the necessary services to him, and there was less business anyway. But there was some business to be had, those too lonely or busy or lazy to cook, or some combination of the three, so he kept it open half a day, opening a little after noon and closing at seven, even thought they were usually open at night. And since everyone had worked the same number of shifts, unless someone actually volunteered there was only one fair way, he could think of assigning that shift: Drawing straws.

"Okay, cooks, first." Howard instructed.

Sal, Jerry, and Patrice stepped forward. Each grabbing a straw, they pulled it from Howard's hand. Jerry got the short straw.

"Sorry, buddy." Sal told him.

"Yeah, rough." Patrice agreed.

Meanwhile, Howard had prepared the new set of straws. "Assistant Cooks."

The three assistant cooks, Logan, Spencer and Davy stepped forward. Each closed their eyes as they grabbed the sticks. Everyone slowly opened their eyes. Davy was the unlucky chosen one.

"Hey, as long as I got a job." Davy smiled.

Howard got a much larger thing of straws. "Waitresses."

Serena Joy, Edith, Karine, Lucy, Denise, Jiya, Josette, and Faylene stepped forward. Each grabbed a straw. They all looked around, and Karine and Faylene had the short ones.

"Well, that's just great." Karine grumbled. Of course, knowing Karine if she hadn't drawn the short straw, she would be complaining about not getting the extra pay that came with the holiday shift to every employee.

"Now, my bus boys—" Seeing Reason he added, "Oh, and girl."

Standing in-between Wyatt and John, Reason stepped up taking the straw. She looked down at the straw. It was the long one.

Wyatt had the short straw.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Howard told them, "Sorry I can't find a better way to do it."

The gathering broke up and everyone went about their business. In Reason's case, that meant switching off with Wyatt.

"Sorry, Wyatt." Reason said sheepishly.

"Hey, we all took her chance." Wyatt replied as he checked in and she checked out.

After that she had an hour of work at Rawls. They actually managed to move a few of the _Schwans_ food that day, selling two boxes of Italian style cheesed stuffed chicken breast, most of their roasted fingerling potatoes ,all of the turkey mignon, and a beef pot roast. Apparently, people who leave holiday prep for the last minute get _really_ desperate.

"Here you go, kid." Rawls said, handing Reason her share of today's take, which was split between herself, Rawls and Rawls' _Shawns_ guy.

"Thanks Rawls." Reason said before walking off, "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too!" Rawls said. Then he remembered something, "Wait!" He called out, grabbing some packages and following after her, "Reason, wait!"

Reason turned around and saw Rawls running to her with the boxes. "What is that?"

"This," Rawls beginning, handing the boxes to her. "Is your Christmas bonus."

Reason looked at the boxes. There was wonton soup, tamales, mini bow tie pasta and vegetable blend, seasoned potato curls, onion rings, Italian herd bread, mini corn dogs, sweet cream cheese pretzel poppers, pan-seared pork pot stickers, and dulce de lece caramel ice cream.

"Wow." Reason grinned, as this was enough to feed her and Maudie for weeps if she portioned it out right, "Thanks Rawls."

"Don't mention it." Rawls replied, "Oh, and one more thing." He pulled out a plastic pig in a green shirt with a ribbon around it, "For the kid."

"Rawls," Reason began, "I can't except this."

"I'm not asking you too." Rawls replied, "I want the kid to except it. Come on, I was Christmas shopping anyway."

"Alright." Reason relented, "Would you mind just putting it on top of boxes."

Rawls put the pig top of the boxes. "You got a ride?" He asked.

"Yeah," Reason replied, "Yeah, actually, I do. We're meeting up in a minute."

"Good." Rawls shouted as she walked away, waving.

Reason was walking down the road when sudden a now familiar Lincoln pulled up. She looked in and saw Hannah driving with three toddlers preciously portioned in the back. Suddenly the door. "Thanks." Reason said, getting in, "Hey, is Sam okay?"

"Yes, he just had some last-minute errands to run." Hannah explained, "Leaving me to keep these three distracted all day." After a beat she added, "This holiday gets children really excited."

"You don't say." Reason quipped, "Well, I know something that could keep them occupied."

Meanwhile, Sam was driving back from the post office, the packages he had got in the front seat. Apparently, Garth had got a couple of things for the boys. Sam made a note to check to see exactly what it was when he got home.

That was when the phone went off. He knew he shouldn't get it while he was driving, but he did anyway. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sam." A pained voice with an Israeli accent said, "Remember me?"

"Tova?" Sam asked, in surprised.

"Yeah, I have a bit of a situation." Tova began, "Nothing huge, but I was working a case in your neck of the woods, and good news, I killed a god of war, bad news, I ah, broke my leg and I'm stranded in front of an antique stores in Lebanon. I'm sorry, I know it's a big ask, but do you think you could pick me up?"

"Wait, Lebanon?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it's a city in Kansas." Tova explained.

"I know, I live there." Sam replied, "Here, actually. Are you telling me there was a case in my own backyard and I didn't even notice?"

"Actually, my case was a couple of towns over." Tova responded, "This is just where my car broke down."

"Tell me exactly where you are." Sam instructed, "I'll come get you."

Meanwhile, Rawls had made it back to his apartment, and there was a knock on his door. He got and opened it and saw Serena Joy standing there with at least three different Tupperware containers.

"Come on in." Rawls said, ushering inside, "What is all that?"

"I baked some things for your nieces." Serena Joy explained, "Jam cake, mince pie, and gingerbread men. Consider it an apology for freaking out the other day."

"Yeah, why _did_ you freak out on me?" Rawls asked.

"You mean why did I freak out that your perfect ex is coming over for a major holiday?" Serena Joy quipped, "I really have to explain that to you?"

"Need I remind you she's the perfect ex that dated my brother before she dated me?" Rawls pointed out, "Trust me, she's done with all the men in my family." Taking the cake, he said, "Now, let's get these set down so you can see what I got you—you're gonna love it." He sang the last part, making Serena Joy laugh.

Meanwhile, Hannah, Reason and the kids were in the parking lot of the church the children hand trick or treated at two months earlier, except now there was a small, ramshackle building where young woman was kneeling by a small troth that had a baby wrapped in, a slightly older man by her side. Off to the side there were two people, one of them with two sheep on a leash.

Dean toddled over to the sheep and reached out to pet it.

"Dean, don't." Hannah insisted, pulling him back. "I'm so sorry, he loves animals."

"It's alright," One of the Shepard's spoke up, "He can pet them. They're on loan from a petting zoo, they know how to behave."

"Okay," Hannah said, still unsure, but letting him go, "You can go pet the sheep, little one."

Dean egger ran up and touched the sheep, patting its wool.

"You want to feed it, little guy?" The Shepard asked, handing Dean some hey.

"Fank you." Dean exclaimed, taking the hay and handing it to the sheep, Maudie came running up as well, petting the other sheep.

Meanwhile, Castiel was clinging to Hannah's leg.

"What about you, little man?" The first Shepard that spoke asked, crouching, "Do you want to pet 'em?"

Cas just buried himself deeper into his mother's leg.

"He's shy." Hannah explained, gently rubbing her hand through his hair, "It's okay, sweetie, you don't have to if you don't want to."

The sheep however had other ideas, taking a few steps forward and trying nuzzle Cas who started to cry, practically plastered to Hannah's leg.

Hannah pulled him off and bounced him gently in her arms. "It's okay, Cas, it's alright." She tried to soothe, "Mommy's here."

Soon Cas wasn't the only one crying. Something, maybe the loud noises, maybe the hay, maybe something else, upset the baby playing Jesus, who started wailing. Mary scooped the baby up, smelling its bottom. "I d-don't think s-s-she needs changing." Mary declared, "Maybe sh-she's hungry?"

"Where'd you put the bottles?" Joseph asked, getting up.

"There in the f-fridge, in the kitchen." Mary answered.

"Stay here, I'll go get one." Joseph offered, almost bumping into a cow on his way out.

"Wait, Phil, I think it's about time for—" The other Shepherds called out, but before he could finish, Phil was gone.

"To be fair we can't exactly have the wise men enter with our Lord and Savior screaming her head up." Another Shepherd reasoned.

Just then, as if on cue, a man in dark blue coat came out, holding a bible, reading from it, "A out that time some wise men from the eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking—"

"Ah, pastor, I'd hold off on introducing the wise men for a few minutes." The Shepard spoke up again, "We have a little situation 'Joseph' had to go and a get a bottle."

"Oh." Then he turned around and said, "Wait, a second guys, we're waiting." Then he turned to the crowd and said, "Sorry, folks, I promise we'll be back on track in a minute. This is what, ah, happened with live theater." The pastor chuckled nervously, then noticed Hannah and Reason still trying to sooth Cas, while the children at their feet looked on. "Looks like Hope's not the only one who's having issues." He noted, talking over to the group, "What the problem, here, little brother?"

"The sheep scared him." Hannah exclaimed, not entirely sure she was comfortable with this stranger getting involved in their business. Cas had decided he wasn't comfortable at all and hid his face in her chest.

"Let me guess," The pastor responded, "He's shy."

Hannah nodded in confirmation.

"It's alright, buddy I don't bite." The pastor assured him, "Would it be better if we introduced ourselves. "They call me Pastor Jim. What do they call you?"

Cas looked up. "Cas." She sniffled.

"Well, Cas, looks like you could use one of these." He pulled out small packet of tissues, "May I, miss?"

"Oh, yes." Hannah replied.

Pastor Jim handed Cas and tissue and the tot started haphazardly wiping at his face. Hannah took it and dabbed at his red little cheeks. "It tried to eated me." He declared, pointing accusingly at the sheep.

"Ah, I don't think it was trying to do that." Pastor Jim responded, "See, sheep ate herbivores."

"Herbi—what?" Cas asked.

"It means they eat plants—and only plants." Pastor Jim began, "Not little boys." He took a handful of hey and held it out, "See?

Cas starred as Pastor Jim fed the sheep. He reached out, trying to get to it. Hannah leaned in, letting him pet it.

"See, that's not so bad, is it?" Pastor Jim asked.

Cas shook his head.

Just then Phil arrived with the bottle. Mary took it in began feeding Hope. It seemed to take.

"That's my cue to get back in place." Pastor Jim said, "It was pleasure meeting you Miss—"

"Oh, Hannah." The female angel introduced herself, "And that's Dean, and well, you've already met Castiel and probably Reason and Maudie."

"I don't think I'd forget a name like that." Pastor Jim quipped, turning to Reason, "The Johnson's sisters' friend, right?"

"Yeah, something like that." Reason answered sheepishly.

"It's good seeing you again." Pastor Jim said, before walking back to where the wise men were presumably waiting in the wings.

Meanwhile Sam had pulled up to the antique store that by continence was the one had bought the ornaments at, the only car in the parking area was a pearl white car. Stepping out he went up window to see Tova sitting there, her right leg twisted at an unnatural angle. The window rolled down and Tova weakly greeted, "Hey."

"Hey," Sam repeated, "That doesn't look good."

"I can guarantee you it feels worst. "A little help?"

"Yeah," Sam said, opening the door and carefully picking her up. He carried him, to the Impala and carefully sat her in the back. "Let's get you to a hospital, okay?"

Tova nodded.

However, that was when they were interrupted by a scream coming from inside.

"Go." Tova told him, gesturing for him to go see what was going on.

Meanwhile, the shop owner was putting money from the cash register in the bag as fast as she could with a gun in her face.

"Go faster!" The robber shouted.

"I'm trying!" The owner shouted right back, "You want efficiently don't rob a pregnant lady—ah!" Suddenly her back started to really hurt.

That was when Sam snuck in through the back, presumably the same way the robber got in, and grabbed a white floor lamp with a silk rose shade. He snuck up behind the robber, putting a finger to his lip when the woman caught him.

"What?" The robber asked, "What are you looking at?"

That was when Sam struck, hitting the robber from behind, sending him to the ground, unconscious, or at the very least semi-conscious. "Robbing a pregnant lady on Christmas Eve?" He asked, looking down at the fiend, "Really?" Looking at the lady in question, and asked, "Are you okay, miss?"

"Yeah, except for one slight problem." The woman answered, an extremely pained look on her face.

"What slight problem?" Sam asked, worried.

"Did you know that in the late stages of pregnancy severe distressed, like being robbed at gun point, can induce labor?" The woman responded.

"You mean you're in labor right now?" Sam replied, his heart plummeting.

The woman nodded weakly before flinching in pain.

"Okay, "Sam said, going around the counter and guiding her out, "What's your name?"

"Selene." The woman answered, "Selene Macnab." After a beat, she explained, "Married named. Oh, my God, I need to call my husband."

"We'll call him on the way." Sam assured her, "Selene, my name is Sam, and I'm gonna get you to a hospital okay?"

"Okay." Selene agreed, letting Sam walk her out the door.

Meanwhile at Rawls' things were a little more low key. Thought to be fair that was a low bar.

They were on the bright yellow couch, sitting on mugs or warm amaretto, as Serena Joy slide a box covered in red and sliver paper to Rawls. Taking off the wrapping he opened the box, reveling a CD, but not just any CD _Billy Joel Greatest Hits, Volumes I and II._

"How did you—" Rawls began, astonished.

"Well, they're not exactly that hard to find." Serena Joy replied, "So, I guess that's one."

"Yeah," Rawls repeated, "Yeah that's the one."

As a teenager, Rawls had saved and saved until he had enough to buy _Billy Joel Greatest Hits,_ only for the CD to be destroyed in "mysterious" fire broke out in the family trailer before he could even listen to all it. A fire the broke out three weeks after his small-time con artist mother took out a hefty home insurance policy on the aforementioned trailer.

"I feel kind of bad now." Rawls said, putting it down and handing Serena Joy a small box wrapped in green paper and gold ribbon.

Serena Joy pulled the boy then tore off the paper, revealing a box that said, _Tiffany._

Serena Joy just stared at it for a moment. "You shouldn't have." She said, finally, "We agreed, nothing too expensive, and I only you got a crappy CD, and…and…" Her voice trailed off, as a loss for words.

Rawls cupped her cheek. "It's just a crappy CD to me." Rawls assured her, "Now come on, open it up."

Serena Joy did, revealing a flat sliver heart, almost like a pet listen, on a beaded sliver chain. Engraved on the heart if read, _if found return to TIFFANY & CO. 1633._

"It's beautiful." Serena Joy breathed, quickly putting it on, "Thank you, so much, I love it." She didn't notice but there were tears in the corner of her eyes.

Rawls, did notice, however, and handed her a tissue. "You don't know how good that makes me feel."

Meanwhile, Pastor Jim was ushering in the wisemen. "About that time wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw His star as it rose and we have come to worship Him."

As the pastor spoke, three men in cloths of red brocade cloth, white brocade cloth with butterflies, and blue brocade cloth. It probably wasn't the most historically accurate, but it was the best they could do. Each man held an ornate box in his hand.

"King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem." Pastor Mackey continued, "He called a meeting of the leading priest and teachers of religious law and asked' Where is the Messiah suppose to be born?' 'In Bethlehem in Judea,' they said, 'for this is what the prophet wrote: 'And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd of My people Israel. Then Harrod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, 'Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him too!' After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. I was ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!"

As Pastor Jim went on, the three-man bowed before Hope-as- Jesus, setting the gifts before him. Hannah was pretty sure at least one of them was a jewelry box.

"They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, they bowed down and worshiped him." Pastor Jim said as they did so, "Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another toured, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Harrod."

"Matthew?" Hannah whispered, as she wasn't sure. She wasn't as well-versed in Bible as she probably should be, even all things considered.

"Yeah." Reason whispered back.

"Mommy." Dean spoke up, tugging on her pants leg, "Should we have bought presents too?"

"They're not real gifts, honey." Hannah told him, "It's only make believe."

"Oh." Dean responded sadly.

Reason's eyes darted over at Hannah for a minute. She knew the way Hannah meant it, but when she said things like that it just made her feel a bit nervous.

Meanwhile, Sam and was driving, trying to use the speeddail on Selene's phone, while the woman herself was desperately trying to not have a baby in his car, gripping Tova's hand, her dark bun coming undone.

All in Christmas Eve traffic.

"Aggh!" Selene moaned, "Nrrgh!"

"It's alright." Tova assured her, leaning over the side, "You got this."

"No, I don't." Selene protested, "I really, really don't!"

"Yes, you can." Tova encouraged, "Women have been doing this for millions of years. A couple thousand years ago tonight a woman did it in a cave with an intact hymen. And she was what, fifteen, sixteen? If she can do it, so can you."

"I thought you were Jewish." Sam commented.

"The point still stands." Tova shot back.

Suddenly Selene screamed in pain again.

"Alright, I'm no doctor, but I think this baby might be coming." Tova declared.

"What?" Sam balked.

"No." Selene protested, "Not here. Not in some stranger's car!" Glancing over at Sam she added, "No offense."

"None taken." Sam responded.

Just then, Sam finally got Selene's husband on the phone. "Hey, honey." A man's voice greeted.

"Ah, I'm actually not your wife." Sam informed him nervously, "But she's in my car, she's in labor, we're on our way to the hospital now."

"What?" The man on the other end of the conversation balked, "How—where—"

"Look, we'll explain everything later." Sam assured him, "Just, get to Saint Anne's, it's the closest hospital to us, I think I have to go." And with that he hung up.

"Selene, _sheshta,_ I think you need to push." Tova urged.

"No." Selene responded, shaking her head, "No."

"You have to." Tova insisted.

"Like, you said, you've not a doctor!" Selene shouted.

"Okay, we all just need to calm and—" Sam began his voice trailed off when there was a loud _thud_ and the car began to shake then come to stop. "No, no," He muttered, "Please no."

"What is it?" Selene asked, "What's wrong? Why have we stopped?"

"Not sure." Sam said getting out, "But I have an idea." Getting out he saw to his dismay that his suspicion was correct. He had a flat tire. He went to the trunk and opened it, only to find that it was still loaded with hunters' supplies. In fact, everything was there _but_ a spare tire. He quickly shut it for fear of freaking out Selene and causing her to bolt, then came back to the front, "Okay, looks like we're walking the rest of the way."

Sam and Tova helped Selene out of the car. Leaning Selene up against the car, he asked, "I just thought of something. Have you ever heard of the breathing technique?"

"We went over it in lamaz." Selene answered.

"Okay, well, we're gonna try it, okay?" Sam continued, "Just—in and, out right?"

"Yeah, "Selene confirmed, beginning to do so.

While Selene was doing that, Sam leaved in to get Tova. "Leave me." The huntress told him, "With my bum leg I'll only slow you down."

Sam wanted to argue, but knew she was right. "Will you be okay here until I get back?"

"Yeah." Tova answered, "Yeah, just go."

Letting Selene prop on his shoulder, Sam began to walk.

Meanwhile, Hannah, Reason and the children were still at the living Naivety, approaching the star of the show.

Dean, his usually exuberant self, practically stuck half his body into the manger, something the baby currently in it didn't look so sure about. Hannah quickly pulled him back. "Sorry."

"I-it's okay." The woman playing Mary assured her, though she did pick her child up, "Y-you enjoying y-yourselves kiddos?"

The trio nodded.

"What about y-you?" She asked, directly looking at Cas, "Y-you doing better?"

Castiel nodded. "Sheep only eat plants." He informed her.

"R-really?" The woman responded, feigning ignorance of this fact, "G-good to know."

By chance, Sam and Selene were walking down the road that ran past the church. Realizing who she saw, Hannah asked Reason, "Would you mind watching the boys for a moment?"

"Sure." Reason answered, taking Cas from her.

Hannah ran out until she got to the road, calling out, "Sam!"

Sam looked in the direction of her voice. "Hannah?"

Hannah stopped in front of him. "What are you doing here? And who is she?"

"This is Selene." Sam explained, "Selene this is Hannah."

"Hi." Selene got out.

"I had an extra errand to run and it got of hand so now I'm trying to get her to the hospital before she has a baby in the middle of the street." Sam continued, "What are you doing here?"

"Keeping the kids occupied." Hannah answered, "There's a live Naivety over there."

Suddenly Selene felt water trickle down her legs. "Yeah, sorry, but perhaps we could speed it up a bit. I think my water just broke."

"Oh, my God!" Sam exclaimed, hurrying over to the nearest building, which was the church, "Is there a doctor in the house?!"

Phil, who happened to be an OBGYM, got up and hurried over to them. "Let me guess," He begin, "Labor."

Selene nodded.

"How far apart are the contractions?" Phil asked.

"About…. three minutes?" Selene replied, "Give or take?"

"She says her water just broke." Sam added.

"Alright, that means labor's going to speed up." Phil informed them.  
"Oh, great." Selene snarked before another sharp pain went through her, "Ahh! I think I just had another contraction."

"Alright, I'll need to look, but we might not have time for a hospital." Phil declared, "Let's just get her inside and figure this out."

"No!" Selene exclaimed, "I am not having my baby in stable. I am not the virgin Mary, and this baby is NOT the Messiah."

"Of course not." Phil assured her, "We'll get you inside the church. There's a couch in office."

As they carried her through the crowd, Pastor Jim asked, "Anything we can do to help?"

"Yeah, pray." Phil replied, then looked to the coward. "Also, if anyone has any medical experience, that would be good."

When they finally got inside there were being followed by a nurse and Hannah, who was trying to get Selene's husband on the phone. They sat Selene down on a floral couch in the corner of Mackey's office. "Oh, this is just what I was worried about." Phil said, "She's fully dilated."

"What does that mean?" Sam asked as Selene gripped his hand.

"It means, I need you to start pushing, Selene." Phil addressed the woman.

Selene bore down, and began to push.

"There you, go, Selene," Phil encouraged, "That's it."

"Yeah, you're doing really good." Sam assured her, patting her on the shoulder.

Selene got another contraction and grabbed Sam's hand. "Ahh! Oh my God." Her body contorted. "Sorry." After a beat she continued, "I feel her moving! I gotta push!"

"Whenever you're ready." Phil told her, double checking to make sure it was in fact, time.

Selene took the initiative, and began pushing.

"Okay, I can see the head." Phil declared, "Now, you may already know this, but this is the hardest part to get out. I need you to keep pushing."

Selene bore down, keeping hand firmly around Sam's.

"What's happening?" Selene's husband asked on the phone with Hannah.

"The head's coming out." Hannah explain, squinting as she watched, "Is it supposed to look like that?"

"How am I suppose to know?" Selene's husband responding, "I'm not there!"

"Yeah, it's fine." Phil assured everyone, over hearing the conversation.

Selene continued her breathing, gripping's Sam hand for all it was worth.

Phil lightly tapped Selene's thigh. "I need you to push again."

Selene squeezed Sam's hand so tightly he thought his eyes were going to bug out as she pushed, while huffing, "Argh! Nggh!"

"That's it, Selene, you're doing good." Sam encouraged.

"Keep pushing, Selene, she's almost out." Phil added.

Selene gave one final great push, and her daughter came sliding out of her body and into Phil's waiting hands, making her displeasure known to the world.

"You did it, Selene." Sam told her.

"I did?" Selene asked, not quite believing it was really over. That she had, had a baby.

"You did." Phil confirmed, handing Selene her daughter and announcing, "It's a girl."

"It's a girl, Stan." Hannah informed Selene husband.

"It's a girl?" Stan repeated, "You mean, she's out?"

"Yes." Hannah answered, suddenly feeling almost euphoric.

"Whoop!" Stan shouted over the phone, "I'm a dad!"

"Yeah, you are!" Selene called back to him, as he was loud enough, they could all hear, "So you better get your butt over here before I give this kid the most ridiculous name I can think of." However, she was smiling as she said this.

Stan McNabb arrived at the Good Word Church at the same time the paramedics did and found his wife being loaded on to a gurney, holding their baby girl. He ran over to them both as fast as he could. "Are you okay?" He asked immediately, "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, we're both okay." Selene answered, then informed the child whose tiny hand was currently wrapped around her finger, "This is your daddy."

"That's right," Stan agreed, staring down at his daughter with utter amazement, "I'm so sorry I was late. I swear, I tried—"

"She knows you did." Selene assured him, "Well, technically she doesn't really know anything, she's five minutes old, but I know, and she will know."

"Do you know what you're going to call her?" Reason, who had joined the group along with the children, asked.

"Stan, how do you feel about—Samantha Noel?" Selene asked.

Stan thought on it for a moment. "You know, that's actually kind of pretty." He decided.

Sam blushed. "T-that's not really necessary." He told her, "I mean, Phil did most of the work—"

"Sam," Selene began, "You not only saved my—and my extension her—life, but you took on burden that wasn't yours and left your— "That was when it hit her, "Oh my Lord, you friend!"

"Don't worry, I'll go get her." Sam assured Selene as she was loaded into the back of the ambulance and it drove away with mother, father, and child.

And hour and a half later, Tova had been retrieved, Reason and Maudie had been dropped off at their trailer, and Hannah was healing Tova's leg in the stacks.

"Ahhh, thank you." Tova sighed, "Seriously, where can I get one of you?"

"We're not property." Hannah protested.

"I was only joking _shesta._ "Tova assured her, "So, Sam, are you going to explain to me, ah—" Her voice trailed off and pointed to where Dean and Castiel were playing with their stockings.

"Yeah," Sam said, getting up, "Hannah, mind if me and her go off for a minute?"

In the kitchen, Tova was nursing a glass of whiskey, contemplating what Sam has just told her.

"So, your brother gets turned into a two-year-old, and you decide to just leave him that way?" She recapped.

"If you knew the way we grow up you'd understand." Sam replied, sitting across the way from her with his own drink.

"Uh-huh." Tova responded, "And the littlest angel? Is he even going to grow up again?"

"Well, he eats, sleeps and poops." Sam summarized, "Why wouldn't he grow?"

"You know what," Tova conduced, "Who am I to judge? If you can make this work, then more power to you." She got up and said, "Thanks for the assist, I'm just gonna get out of your hair."

"Tova, wait." Sam protested, "Look, it's late, why don't you stay?"

"Sam, you have a big family holiday, tomorrow." Tova reasoned, "You don't want me hanging around."

"It's not that big." Sam countered," And if you're uncomfortable with staying for it, you can just stay the night and leave in the morning."

Tova sighed. "Okay, "She surrendered, "But as long as I'm here, you mind if I sugar your kids up?"

When Tova walked in back into the stacks, Dean wrapped himself around her leg. "I guess that means someone happy to see me." She beamed, rubbing his head, "And I think you're going to be even happier when you see what I got you. "She pulled out something wrapped in plain, light tan wrapping with a square blue label on it.

"What dat?" Dean asked.

"This is chocolate." Tova answered. Looking to Hannah she said, "Sam said it was okay."

"Alright, then." Hannah responded, "It's okay, Dean. Go on."

Dean took the wrapped object and Cas, tempted by the promise of sweets, approached the new woman as well. Tova knelt down, handing an identical object, and opened it up, revealing a ball of chocolate.

Dean was the first to put his chocolate in his mouth, and found that the chocolate was wrapped around even better chocolate.

"That's called a truffle." Tova informed him, "And these come all the way from Germany."

"What's Germany?" Dean asked.

"It's a country in Europe." Tova explained, "You see…"

And so, Tova spent the next hour or so regaling the boys with sanitized—but probably not sanitized enough—tales of her travels before it was time for bed.

Put first there was one more thing to do.

As Sam helped Cas hang his green stocking on the shelf adjacent to the tree, Dean was wearing his red stocking as a hat, that covered most of his head.

Hannah smiled, removing the stocking from his head. "That's not where that goes, silly." Then he helped him put it on the self.

"And they'll be candy in this tomorrow?" Dean asked, hopefully.

"If you've been good." Sam said, picking him up, "Have you been good?"

"Yeah." Dean grinned, nodding.

"Well, then, there should be candy in that tomorrow." Sam assured him, walking down the hall.

That night, when she was sure the twins were asleep, Hannah crept out of their room and into their father's. "Sam." She whispered, "Sam, they're asleep."

Sam got up. "Okay let's go."

Reaching up to the very top of Sam's closet, the tall hunter grabbed one box after another and handed it to Hannah, who put it on the floor. After they had them all down, they begin trying to divide the packages between them, only to realize they had too many. "Okay," Sam whispered, "We might have to make a couple of trips."

"Looks like you could use a hand." A voice whispered behind them.

They turned around to see Tova standing in the doorway. "I figured helping you with this was the least I could do. "

"Sam," Hannah whispered, "She's already awake. We might as well let her help."

And so, they three adults scurried back into the stacks and carefully arranged the presents under the tree. "So, what did you get them?"

"Probably way too much." Sam admitted, "But hey, they're not going to be little for long, right?"

Tova smiled and nodded. "Amen to that." After a beat she asked, "Mind if I leave them a bit more chocolate in their stockings?"

"Hannah?" Sam asked, looking to the angel, who was currently filling the affirmation stockings.

"They really don't need any more sugar in here." Hannah admitted, "But okay."

"Thanks." Tova replied, going over and pouring the contents of a paper bag into each stocking.

"Alright." Sam declared, "I think we got it."

The split the sugar cookies that had been left out and headed back, Tova leading the way while Hannah and Sam hung back, Hannah's hand slipping into Sam's much larger hand as they walked.

"Marry Chrisman's, Hannah." Sam whispered to her.

"It's—not Christmas yet." Hannah responded.

"It's close enough." Sam reasoned.

"Oh," Hannah whispered, "Merry Christmas then."


	29. Merry Christmas From The Family

Sam was awoken that morning by someone botching on his bed.

"Wake up, Daddy!" Dean shouted, "It's Christmas!"

"Up!" Cas repeated, nudging his father in much gentler manner, "Up!"

Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Dean repeated so fast the words almost ran together, empathizing each word with a jump.

"Alright, alright," Sam moaned, sitting up in bed. Looking to where Hannah was leaning against the doorway, he declared, "I can't believe you let them do this."

"They were really excited." Hannah answered.

"Alright, then!" Sam said, sitting upright and getting a squealing boy under ach arm, "You want to see what you go? Let's go see!"

The boys continued to squeal as Sam spun them around, then he put them on the ground and they ran out of the room.

Meanwhile, in Reason's trailer, the young woman found herself also being nudged awake.

"Mommy," Maudie began, "Mommy?"

Reason's eyes fluttered opened and found a pair of blue eyes staring back at her. "What is it, honey?" She asked, not awake enough yet to remember what day it was.

"Mommy, can we open presents now?" Maudie asked.

Then she remembered. "Of course," She smiled getting them both out of the bed, "Let's got see what Santa brought you."

Meanwhile, Rawls was setting a tray of turkey egg rolls and cheese sticks in the over, when the doorbell rang. "Coming!" He called out, opening the door to find Edith standing there, her guitar on her back and a handful of packages.

"Merry, Christmas." Edith greeted, as she let him help with the presents.

"Merry Christmas." Rawls repeated, "Els called about five minutes, she and the girls are on their way. They should be about two hours out."

"Perfect." Edith replied, then noticed the desserts on the counter, "Hey, where did those come from?"

"Where did what come from?" Rawls asked.

"Those deserts over there." Edith asked, pointing to them.

"Oh, those are just something a friend dropped off." Rawls bushed off nervously.

"Okay," Sam said, taking up a red-wrapped circle, "This is for Dean, "Picking up another oddly wrapped object, "And this one's from Cas, both from Santa."

Dean ripped opened his to find a little blue, white, and yellow drum with two straight sticks. Castiel got a little golden plastic trumpet. The pair immediately started playing them, Dean pounding on the drums and Cas blowing into the trumpets, making the biggest racket they could.

"Alright," Sam called out, regretting buying such noisy gifts, "Let's see what else we got here."

By the end of the wrapping the boys have found, in a combined total from both "Santa" and their parents, a small puzzle, a train, a series of balls, a set of water pistols, a dalmatian with pink spots, a dalmatian with blue spots (so they didn't wind up fighting over it) and plush rocking horse. Then there the wooden bird marionets Garth had sent that were about as big as the boys.

They were about to go for the stockings when Dean exclaimed, "The pickle!"

"Pickle?" Hannah repeated, confused.

"On the tree!" Dean explained, and Cas' eyes lit up and recognition.

"Right," Sam said, remembering as well, "Go see if you can find it."

The boys happily ran to tree, while Sam sneaked over to the stockings. Unable to think of anything else to do he pulled out Tova's chocolates and stuffed them in his pockets. Where was she anyway?

The boys looked all over the tree, stopping to stare at some epsically pretty spots. Eventually they found it in cluster of pine cones. However, the problem was they found it at the same time.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Dean exclaimed, running back to him, "We founded it!"

"Which one of you found it?" Sam asked.  
"We both did!" Cas grinned.

"Well, then," Sam mused, crouching down, "I guess that means you both get the extra presents." Then he pulled out the chocolate, which the happy toddlers immediately grabbed as Hannah took yet another picture on Sam's phone.

Meanwhile, Reason took Serena Joy's old polaroid camera she had loaned for today, and went over to the tree. Or at least what they were _calling_ a tree. Really it was bunch of fallen branches she had put together with clue and a little magic decorated with glass teddy bear, a sliver leaf with frog on it, and three plastic angel children, two with golden wings and matching pieces of cloth protecting their modesty and one with red wings and matching pieces of cloth protecting its modest, all playing violins. Still, it got the job done.

"Okay, these are from Santa." Reason handing her a blue tin and lump rapped in red paper.

Maudie opened the tin, revealing an assortment of candy: Peppermint sticks, hard circles of honey, special treats made of pine syrup, creamy peppermints, roasted chestnuts, golden toffee buttons, beautiful ribbon candy, curling back upon itself again and again in glossy colorful folds gumdrops spicy and variant and shimmering with sugar, and brightly wrapped balls of chocolate.

Maudie reached out to take some out as Reason took a picture, but Reason but down the camera and pulled back the tin, saying, "After breakfast." When Maudie's face fell, Reason urged brightly, "Come on, we have a lot more here," pushing the lump to her.

Maudie tore into it, and found a little calico kitten, its eyes not even open, clutching a little pink blanket. "Kittybaby!" She exclaiming, hugging the kitten.

Reason snapped the picture. "That's right, it's a baby for kitty baby."

Then it was time for the present that were officially from Reason. There was shirt with Ana and Elsa on it, a cow with purple spots instead on black and last, but not definitely not least, a plush Scottish pleasour with the plaid hat to prove it, its name embossed on its chest.

In fact, Nessie was her favorite gift of them morning, so that Maudie refused to let go of it, resulting in serval more pictures. "Okay," Reason said, finally setting the camera down, "We have one more present." She pulled out the plastic pig, "This one's from Mommy's other boss, so you need to love it."

Maudie ripped off the ribbon, in the process accidently causing the pig to make a loud, _honk!_ She looked at it, surprised, then honked the pig again, and kept honking.

Just then there was knock on the door. "Reason?" Serena Joy called out, "You still here?"

"Stay here." Reason told Maudie getting up and walking to the door opening it.

Serena Joy's usually straight hair now fell in smooth waves, and she was dressed a soft gray shirt, jeans it looked like she actually ironed, covered in dark gray coat, and black books. "Mind if I come in for a second?" She asked, holding up something covered in sliver and blue wrapping, "I got ah, a little something for your squish."

"Of course." Reason responded, stepping back to let her in, "Aren't you going to your parents?"

"Eh, it's on the way." Serena Joy brushed it off. This was their ritual. For the past two years Serena Joy had dropped by with a present for the "squish" Reason would ask if she was going to her parents and Serena Joy would say that it was on the way.

As Serena Joy knelt down in front of Maudie, she held out Nessie for her to see. "This is Nessie." Maudie introduced the creature, "She a dinosaur."

"Awesome." Serena Joy responded with slight chuckle in her voice, "Looks like you hit the jackpot this Christmas! Seriously, no one's this good." Then she handed her gift to Maudie, "Merry Christmas, kiddo."

"Merry Christmas." Maudie repeated working at the wrapping. This took her a minute, as Serena Joy had a tendency to use too much tape, but eventually she was able to free the offering, a little plush doll with short felt auburn hair, dressed in a little dark blue pants suit with a white shirt, a tiny magnetic FBI ID badge on her jacket, even little gold cross around her neck.

"Is that what I think it is?" Reason asked.

"Yep." Serena Joy confirmed.

"What does that say?" Maudie asked, pointing to the cursive writing on the badge.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dana Scully." Serena Joy answered.

Maudie looked down at the doll, then back at Serena Joy dubiously. "Who she?"

"Ever heard of a little thing called the _X-Files?_ "Serena Joy asked, crouching down in front of Maudie.

Maudie shook her head.

"Well," Serena Joy began, "Once upon a time in the far-off land of the 90s, a somewhat spooky FBI agent though the truth about many different but not unrelated things laid in series of documents known as the X-Files. A globalist conspiracy was worried he was right, so they tried to trick a very skeptical redhead," she pointed to the doll, "into debunking him. That's just a fancy way of saying to make him look stupid. Instead they wind up extremely slowly falling in love, and fought many monsters together, even if they couldn't agree on what they were. Meanwhile their archnemesis smoked a lot. In government buildings. And no one seems to care. Seriously, you'd think at least one guy would ask."

Maudie clapped, very sincerely. "Fank you." Now she was hugging both Scully and Nessie.

Serena Joy smirked that smirk of hers. "I take it that means you like it?"

"Yes!" Maudie confirmed, grinning and nodding.

"Ah, and that makes me very happy." Serena Joy replied, pulling Maudie into a hug.

"You want to stay for breakfast?" Reason offered. This was also part of the ritual.

"Sure." Serena Joy answered, standing back, though they both knew she would eat nothing, or little.

Meanwhile, Rawls and Edith were getting the last bits and pieces of things together before Elsbeth and the girls arrived.

"Are you sure we're not over-doing it a bit?" Edith asked, adjusting the poinsettias on the table.

"Edith, it a thing of flowers and a tree." Rawls responded, "It's actually pretty standard fare." After a beat, he continued, "Hey, remember that Christmas you and your parents were out on the circuit and in Cheyenne, and we all drove down and Mom brought that bottle of red velvet liquor—"

"No, no, no." Edith cut him off, "We're not doing the nostalgia thing. Especially over our—Jacked up Christmases."

"Come on, they weren't that bad." Rawls reasoned.

"Then why do we all keep running?" Edith challenged, still working on the posettias, "Stehpie ran and never came back, I ran—"

"Rather unsuccessfully." Rawls pointed out.

Ignoring that she continued, "And you ran."

Rawls froze for a second. "What are you talking about?" He asked finally, "I didn't run."

"Then why did you literally move your whole business up here?" Edith countered.

"Because somebody had to look after you." Rawls answered.

"Uh-huh," Edith, responded, "And when is the last time you actually _saw_ Dorian? Or Aunt Lura? Or even my dad?"

"Probably at least one more time then you have." Rawls countered.

"Touché." Edith conceded.

Meanwhile, back at the bunker, the boys were tearing into their stockings, which contained contacts similar to Maudie, with the addition of a couple of tops. Hannah had more or less got the hang if the camera on the phone so Sam turned his attention to getting breakfast.

He went into the kitchen and found to his surprise two plates of food on the table. One was of toast, the other of bacon. In between the two plates was butter and honey and jam and marmalade and just about everything they had that could be conceivably spread on toast.

"What the—" Sam began, when he noticed a post-it stuck to it. He took it off and found written in messy jagged scrawl, _Merry Christmas and happy New Year, Love, Tova._

Sam smiled. "Hey guys!" He called out, walking to the stacks, "Breakfast is ready if anyone wants it."

Elsewhere, in a car on the road Jody was driving to the bunker, with Alex in the passenger seat.

"Just who are you calling?" Jody asked, noticing Alex going for her phone.

"Reason." Alex answered, "She doesn't have text."

"You know, I'm sure we'll see her today." Jody told her, "Or I hope we will."

Meanwhile, Reason was trying to get herself and Maudie ready. She had somehow managed to get Maudie into her nicest dress, pale brown plaid with serval ruffles and red ribbon sash, her little arms covered with a white sweater, and now was laying her out her own outfit, a blue poplin dressed embroidered with little golden Eiffel Towers, a remnant from a life long abandoned, when the phone rang. She picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Reason, it's Alex." The voice on the other end said, "How are you?"

"Good." Reason answered, "Just trying to get ready for today." Then it occurred to her, "Hey, are you guys coming over today?"

"Yeah." Alex confirmed, "I take it that means you're gonna be there too."

"Yeah, if I can ever get everyone out of here." Reason told her, "And by everyone, I mean me and Maudie."

"And Dana and Nessie!" Maudie pipped up, playing with the two aforementioned new toys on the bed.

"Yes, Dana and Nessie will be coming too." Reason agreed, nodding.

"Dana and Nessie?" Alex repeated.

"You'll meet them when you get here." Reason promised, "I'm sorry, Lex, but I need to go. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Alex agreed before handing up.

Reason got her dressed on and then paused a moment, looking at the bed. Did she dare go under it? Crouching down, she pulled out a little wooden keepsake box that fit in her hand, its cop covered with cloth, embroider with a forget-me-not. She opened it, revealing a folded-up picture, a block of black holography ink decorated with gold branches and sliver flowers a necklace made of wood and twine, another made of gold.

Little pieces of a broken heart.

She pulled out the gold necklace. A flat globe surrounded by a green left, topped with a red ribbon. On the back of the pendent were the words PEACE ON EARTH in all capital letters.

"Ooh! Pretty!" Maudie explained, reaching out to touch the medallion.

Reason looked to Maudie, then to the next lace. "Would you like to wear this today?"

Maudie's whole face lit up. "Can I?"

Reason knelt down so she was just a bit taller than Maudie. "Sure, you can, baby girl." She said unclasping the necklace and putting it around her daughter's neck.

Serena Joy had arrived at her parents and was setting the deserts down when she felt someone standing right behind her. _What the-_ She thought, whirling around to see a little girl of about eighteen months of age, but not quite officially one, staring up at her.

"Let me guess," Serena Joy said, pulling out a gingerbread man, "You want one of these." Serena Joy had made a smilular spread to the spread she brought Rawls: A jam cake, a mince pie, gingerbread, thought in this case she had book the cookies and the actual bread, and a coconut cake.

The girl just looked at her.

"Here you go." Serena Joy said, handing her the gingerbread man which she contently began to stuff in her mouth.

"You know, I wish you would ask me before you let Amy spoil her dinner." A woman a few years older than Serena Joy with same brown eyes, and dark hair, but more of chocolatey brown, asked as she walked in, holding another baby, this one much younger.

"Come, Lizzie J, it's holiday." Serena Joy brushed her off, picking up the baby in question, "Let her over indulge a bit."

At 24, Eliza Jane Johnson-Tippens, who reveled in being the sensible sister, had an established career and a homemade soap business on the side, a marriage coming up on the leather anniversary, and two kids, and at the rate she was going would be on kid number three soon enough.

Eliza Jane fought back an eye roll, looking at all the sweets. "You know we're not feeding an army, right?"

"Again—holiday." Serena Joy replied, "Plus, baking is what I do. It's what I do, it's what I'm good at."

Eliza Jane let her baby wrap her hand around her finger. "Speaking of which…"

Serena Joy looked at the ceiling. "Eliza, please don't start. Not today."

"Serena Joy, it's been three years." Eliza Jane responded, "Maybe it's time start thinking about the future."

"I have." Serena Joy replied, "And I've decided that I like my life, I like my job, I like the people the I work with."

"Do you really want to be running around, living off of tips for the rest of your life?" Eliza Jane challenged.

"Oh, don't be so snobbish Eliza Jane." Serena Joy scoffed, "Besides Howard pays me extra for baking all the dinner's deserts."

"What do you mean?" Eliza Jane asked, "Like under the table?"

"Eliza Jane!"

Once again, the doorbell ran at Rawls' apartment. When he opened it this time to reveal a woman with wavy auburn hair, wrangling with two girls, a wavy haired brunette of about seven and little redhead of about five.

"Uncle Benny!" The girls squealed attacking Rawls with such force he had fight to stay upright.

"Hey there!" He cried in joy, reciprocating the hug, "Long time no see."

"We missed you!" The brunette shouted.

"We missed you!" The redhead parroted, "We missed you, we missed you, we missed you so, so much!"

"And I missed you, too Scarlet." Rawls assured her, as he managed to peel them off.

"What about me?" The older brunette asked, looking rather dejected.

"And I missed you too, Venessa." He assured her, giving her another hug.

That was when the girls noticed another shiny object. "Eddie!" Venessa called out, running to her.

Scarlett, on the other hand, held behind Rawls' leg.

"It's okay." Rawls assured him, "That's your second cusion, Edith. You met her before."

Scarlett shook her head, which was still buried into Rawls' leg.

"Scarlett Rawls, you know you have." Elsbeth scolded, setting her bag down.

"Here, let me try something." Edith requested, setting on the arm of couch and picking up her guitar, starting to strum. " _Mary did you know that your baby boy, would one day walk on water? Mary did you know that your baby boy, would save our sons and daughters? Did you know, that your baby boy has come to make you new? This child that you've delivered will soon deliver you…_

Scarlett slowly moved out from behind Rawls' leg and walked towards Edith, staring up at her.

 _Works every time._ Edith thought, smirking.

At the bunker, Sam was cleaning up from breakfast while Hannah was getting the getting the kids' ready. They liked to dress themselves, but they still needed help to just get their shoes on the right feet.

She pulled a blue and red shirt over Castiel's head and the little angel looked around, expecting another layer to be applied.

"You know what, Cas, why don't we let the wings out today." Hannah suggested.

"Really?" Cas asked, surprised.

"I don't see why not." Hannah informed him, "After all it's just family today."

"Yayyy!" Cas cheered, jumping up and down.

"Settle down for a minute." Hannah urged, "You still need shoes."

Cas obeyed and Hannah was able to get the young angel's shoes on. While she was doing that, she heard knock on the doorway.

"Hey," Sam greeted them from the doorway when she looked up, "How are things going in here?"

"Same as usual." Hannah replied, "Except would please convince our son that the stocking is not a hat?" She gestured over to Dean, who's whole head was once again covered with his stocking from the morning.

Sam walked over to the boy and removed the stocking from his head. "What is your obsession with this?"

"It's so big Daddy!" Dean informed him.

"Well, I'll give you that." Sam admitted, "But, ah, how bout keeping it off for a while?"

"Okay, Daddy." Dean agreed reluctantly.

"Hey, I need to talk to your Mommy for a minute." Sam told them, "We'll be right outside, I promise."

With that, Sam and Hannah walked out of the room. "What is it?" Hannah asked, worried.

"With all the exactment this morning, I never got a chance to give you this." Sam explained, pulling out a box wrapped in blue and silver paper.

"You-got-me-a present?" Hannah asked, still processing what was happening.

"Yeah, you're—you're my family now, too." Sam reasoned.

"Still, you don't have to—" Hannah began, feeling something wet in her eyes.

"I _wanted_ to." Sam insisted, still holding it out to her, "Come on, open it."

Hannah took it and carefully removed the wrapping, revealing a white box. She opened that to find gold necklace with large circular pendent decorated a leafy, floral design.

"It's a locket." Sam informed her, "Open it up and there's a picture inside."

Hannah opened the locket revealing a picture of Dean and Castiel, grinning into the camera.

"I love it." Hannah told him, tears spilling down her face, "Thank you." That when she remembered, "Oh, ah, I actually have something for you, too." Steeping away she said, "Hold on, I'll be right back."

"Okay." Sam agreed, somewhat awkwardly. He had expected this strong a reaction.

A few second later, Hannah came holding an awkwardly wrapped package, handing it to Sam. Sam fought through the tape and found…a copy of _My Sister's Keeper_?

"You told me once that sometimes you'd like more time to read something not lore related." Hannah explained, "I can't do anything about time, but the woman at the book store said a lot of people like this book. They made a movie out of it a couple of years ago apparently."

If Sam was being honest the book didn't seem like something that would be his type of thing, but it was such a sweet gesture and she tried her best, so he smiled saying, "Thanks. I'll read it as soon as I can. This is so sweet."

Hannah wasn't sure how respond to that and just started tumbling with the clasp of the locket.

"Here, let me." Sam offered bridging the space between them and taking the locket. Coming up behind her he undid the clasp and placed it around her neck. "How does this feel?" He asked as he fastened it, wanting to make sure it was comfortable.

"Good." Hannah replied, wiping her eyes and trying to get ahold of herself. "It feels good. I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm crying. I'm not even sad. Crying's for sad, right?"

"Sometimes it can be for happy." Sam told her.

Just then, Cas and Dean noticed what was happening, stepping out of the room. "What's wrong, Mommy?" Dean asked.

Hannah whipped her eyes again. "Nothing wrong, little one." Hannah assured him, "This just happens sometimes when you're happy, apparently." Crouching to give them a better look, she explained, "Daddy gave Mommy this, see?"

"Pretty." Cas beamed, and Dean asked, "Is that what made you happy?"

"Yes." Hannah confirmed, "It made me very happy."

Shortly after that people started arriving, the first being Reason and Maudie.

"Here." Sam said, "Let me take those for you." Pulling back, he saw how she was dressed, the dress, with what little make up she had on and her hair down, smoothed back in a ponytail. "Wow. You dressed up." When he saw her plush, "Ah, don't get me wrong, you both look great, Maudie's outfit is adorable, but, ah, we were really planning something more casual."

"I'll remember that if we do this next year." Reason replied, shifting uncomfortably.

Fortunately, Maudie broke up the awkwardness by holding up Nessie for Sam to see proudly declaring, "I gotted a dinosaur!"

"I see that." Sam said, then reading her front, "Nessie?"

Reason shrugged and Maudie nodded.

That was when Sam noticed who was riding Nessie. "Is that what I think it is?"

Reason nodded. "Serena Joy got it somewhere."

Maudie started looking around. "Where Cas and Dean?"

"Right over there." Sam answered, pointing to where Dean and Castiel was playing with the train.

"Dean, Cas!" She shouted, running over to them and introducing Nessie and Dana.

 _I guess now she has to believe._ Sam thought, _At least in the Loch Ness Monster._

"Hey, ah, would it be okay if I heat up this in the oven?" Reason asked, "I, ah, couldn't do it at home."

"Yeah, sure, just let me set these down so I can show you where the kitchen is." Sam replied, heading for the tree.

As Sam helped Reason with the oven, Hannah walked into the kitchen. "Um, is this a bad time?" She asked awkwardly.

"No," Sam assured her, "What is it?"

"Actually, I was hopping to talk to Reason alone for a minute." Hannah requested.

"Alright, I'll go check on the kids." Sam agreed, thinking he knew what this was about, as Hannah had told him about her adventure in _Wal-Mart_ a few weeks earlier.

"What's going on?" Reason asked, once they were alone, concerned by how nervous Hannah seemed.

"Now, don't get mad about this." Hannah requested, which worried Reason and even more, "It's just that today's the day you give gifts to people you care about anyway, and-and—" At lost for words, she took from behind her back the two sweaters, tied together with white ribbon.

Reason covered her mouth, and tears started welling up and her eyes.

"I'm sorry!" Hannah exclaimed, dropping the sweaters as if someone just informed her, they were radioactive, "I'm so sorry. I didn't—"

Suddenly Reason lunged at Hannah, hugging her. "Thank you," She told her, "Thank you so, so, much."

"So, you're not mad?" Hannah asked, not sure what was going on.

"No." Reason confirmed pulling back and picking up the sweaters, "No I'm not mad. This is so nice, thank you."

As the pair hugged again, somewhere, someone had turned on a radio, and music came wafting through.

… _. I found a way…._

Meanwhile, the Johnson's sisters were gathered around their nieces, letting them open some of their presents to keep them occupied while lunch was cooking.

"So many pieces." Eliza Jane noted as she observed the stackable train set Amy had just opened, and if her attempt to remove the plastic was any indication, liked. "Here, let Mama help." Eliza Jane continued, starting to open it.

"I don't suppose we can just rewrap some of these and have her open them again to keep her getting fusty on the ride home?" Her husband, Nick, quipped from the doorway.

"Wouldn't that be lovely." Eliza Jane replied, taking a resent labeled for the younger baby, Jennifer.

It was at that point Priscilla Jean noticed Serena Joy sporting a new piece of jewelry. "Nice necklace, S. J. Where did you get that?"

Panicked, Serena Joy put her hand over the pendent. "Oh, this old thing?" She asked, playing innocent, "I've had it for years."

"Then how come I've never seen it before?" Priscilla Jean challenged.

"Alright, it was gift from a friend." Serena Joy admitted.

Meanwhile, at Rawls' apartment, the family was sitting down to a somewhat early launch of hore de vors: turkey egg rolls, a raw vegetable tray, pigs in a blanket, rolls, a mix of corn, black beans and spices called cowboy caviar, garlic herb shrimp, breaded mozzarella sticks, both taken from Rawls' inventory, and Elsbeth's frozen Walldorf salad.

"I forgot how good this is." Edith complemented, pulling over another slice of the salad, "Seriously, what do you put in here?"

"It's just Waldorf salad mixed with eggs and heavy whipping cream and frozen." Elsbeth shrugged it off, not getting what the big deal was.

"Can we have desert now?" Scarlet asked, eying the cake still on the counter.

"After we finish lunch." Elsbeth laughed.

Eventually they did finish lunch, then Rawls got a piece of the cake, as well as Edith. Elsbeth got some pie and since it was holiday, she didn't make Scarlet choose between pie and the gingerbread cookies, and when Vanessa protested let her get some cake and a gingerbread man.

All was going well until Edith bit into the cake. It was moist and hardy with a zip of tartness the blackberry jam, nicely balanced warmth from the spices, cinnamon, maybe allspice or cloves, maybe even both, with just the right amount of black walnuts and raisins, all topped off with lush caramel-cream cheese icing. It was comforting, like sliding into a warm bed. As least until she realized it tasted familiar. At least until she realized where it was familiar _from._

"This is Serena's jam cake." Edith declared, mystified.

"Serena?" Elsbeth repeated, not getting what was going on.

"Serena Joy Johnson." Edith elaborated, "She's a co-worker who makes all the deserts at the dinner and I've had her jam cake before and this is it." After a beat she asked, directly looking at her cusion, "Rawls, what is Serena Joy's jam cake doing here?"

"Um…" Rawls began, blanking for a moment, "She brought it over."

Edith was satisfied for all of a moment, before she realized, "Wait how does she know where you live? You've met her, what, once or twice?"

"More than that, actually." Rawls responded, still trying to avoid the truth. After an awkward pause, he just came out with it. "We're dating."

"What?!" Edith screamed.

"We're dating." Rawls repeated, "We have been for a few months now."  
Edith just balked for a moment. "W-Why am I only hearing about this now?!" She demanded finally.

"Well at first we were keeping it under wraps because it was new thing." Rawls explained, "But honestly after a while it was because we knew people—mainly you—would react like this."

"Of course, I'm reacting like this!" Edith exclaimed standing up from the table, "You're seeing a girl ten years younger than you, a girl I have to work with on a regular basis, a girl that…. Rawls, have you seen some of the things she does?" After a beat she added, "Rawls, I think there might be something wrong with her."

"There's nothing wrong with her." Rawls protested, "And even if there was…I wouldn't care. Now, I'm sorry about getting involved with someone from your job, that was unfair to you, but and one thing lead to another and then…." After a beat he went a different route, "If you knew her like I do, you'd understand."

"If I…" Edith began, before letting out a disgusted scoff, "I can't talk to you right now." And with that she walked away.

Back at the bunker, things were going better, and Jody and Alex had just arrived.

"It's so good to see you." Sam told the sheriff, carefully hugging her.

"You, too." Jody replied before they broke the embrace, "We really need to meet up some time other then holidays and times people are murdered in weird ways."

"Yeah, definitely." Sam agreed before a blur ran past him, attaching itself to Jody's leg.

"It's good to see you too, Dean." Jody informed him, looking down at the toddler, and rubbing his head.

Then Dean saw she wasn't alone. "Alex!" He squealed, unlatching himself from Jody's leg and latching onto Alex.

"Looks like he's got a new favorite." Jody joked.

Meanwhile, Cas was hiding behind the rocking horse, which they had been riding before Jody and Alex had come in. He peaked out from behind it, looking at them.

Seeing Cas peeking out, Sam said, "It's okay, buddy. Come on."

Cas carefully walked out from behind the horse and approached Jody. "Hi."

"Hey there, Castiel." Jody greeted him, smiling.

"Merry Christmas." Cas told her, looking down.

"Merry Christmas." Jody repeated, then getting an idea said, "I got some things for you and your brother to open up later."

That seem to make light up little, which honestly worried Sam a little for multiple reasons.  
At Serena Joy's parents' things were going well. Jennifer had been fed a hardy feast of mashed carrots and strained peas and had gone for a nap in her grandparent's bed room. Eliza Jane and now helping Amy eat little bits of all the meal, which except for the deserts had been made by Johnson sisters' mother. While they ate everyone was talking and laughing and having a good time.

Then, as Serena Joy was slicing her fork into a square of cranberry velvet freeze, Norma Jean noticed her older sister's jewelry, "Hey, ah, is that a new necklace?" Norma Jean asked.

 _Oh, dear Lord, what's with everyone and my necklace?_ Serena Joy thought but said aloud, "Yes," rolling a green machine cherry that fallen from the frozen salad around on the place.

"It was a gift from a 'friend'" Priscilla Jean spoke up before taking a bite of ham.

"Ooooh, a friend." Norma Jean responded.

"What are you, twelve?" Serena Joy snarked.

That was when Norma Jean noticed what was on the heart. "Tiffaney," She noted, "Nice."

That got the attention of their mother, a woman who looked like a combination of her girls, except with ash blonder hair. "Tiffaney?" She repeated, "Who do you have giving you Tiffaney jewelry?"

Serena Joy shrunk back in the seat, wishing she could just disappear.

"Serena Joy, answer me now." Her mother ordered more forcefully.

 _Thanks a lot, Norma._ Serena Joy thought, before saying aloud, "My boyfriend, okay? There, ya happy?"

"Boyfriend?" Her father, the source of their dark hair, repeated.

"Yeah, we been dating for a couple of months, we just—weren't announcing it yet, not until we see where this goes." Serena Joy explained, waiting for the worst.

"Does he work at the dinner?" Eliza Jane asked, remember what Serena Joy had said about liking her co-workers.

"No," Serena Joy answered, "But his cousin does. It's another one of the reasons we've been keeping a lid on things."

"Can we get a name?" Her father asked.

"His name is Benedict." Serena Joy answered, "But he hates his first name so he goes by his last names, Rawls."

"When can we meet him?" Her mother asked.

"Mom!" Serena Joy protested.

"Well, you can't tell us you have a boyfriend and just expect us not to want to meet him." Her mother reasoned.

"Alright," Serena Joy conceded, "But at least give us time to tell his cusion first."

"Fair enough." Her mother agreed, and with that things went back to business as usual.

At Rawls' apartment, things were going less smoothly.

He was sitting in his chair, rubbing his face, when Elsbeth came over holding a cup of coffee. "I helped myself." She explained, "Hope you don't mind. Black, double sweet?"

Looking up, Rawls took the cup. "You're an angel." After a beat he asked, "How are the girls doing?"

"I got them nice and distracted on my phone." Elsbeth answered sitting down, "So, you want to talk about it?"

"Care to be more spefic?" Rawls requested.

"Well, for starters, this Serena girl." Elsbeth elaborated, "You never said you were seeing anyone. Tell me about her."

"Actually, her name is Serena Joy." Rawls explained, "They're both her first name. She has another middle name. Like Edith said, she's 21, she's a waitress at the dinner, she makes the deserts and as you've seen she's really, really good at her job."

"Yeah, that pie was pretty amazing." Elsbeth admitted it.

"And she's kind and funny and if she decided she cares about you, she will do anything for you." Rawls continued.

"Sounds like a nice girl." Elsbeth said, "No wonder you love her."

"I never said—" Rawls began.

"Benny, just because we didn't work out, doesn't mean I don't know you." Elsbeth cut him.

"Yeah, well, maybe you could get Edith to see that." Rawls requested.

"She's not unreasonable." Elsbeth assured her, "You can make her see."

Rawls went to the bathroom, where Edith has hold up after the incident, where he could hear music. _"Brother jukebox, sister wine. Mother freedom, father time. Since he left me by myself, you're the only family I have left."_

"That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?" Rawls called out, knocking on the door, "Also a little creepy given the context of our relationship?"

Just the door the open. "I'm sorry." Edith said, "I know I overreacted. Like, _really_ overreacted."

"I'm sorry, too." Rawls replied, "I should have told you." After a beat he added, "But I'm not dumping her."

"I wouldn't ask you too." Edith said, pulling Rawls into a hug.

At the bunker they were just sitting down to lunch, Sam sitting a big silver pot around the kettle. "Ah, I probably should have though to ask this earlier, but, um…no one's allergic to shellfish, right?"

"No," Reason answered, "And Maudie's not either."

"No one's from my group either." Jody added, "Why?"

"Well, ah, I wasn't sure what kind of food people actually cook for Christmas." Sam began, "So, ah, I looked it up on line, and ah, I found that oyster stew is apparently a thing a lot of people do, so I thought I'd give it shot."

"Blech!" Maudie protested.

"Maud," Reason whispered, "Give it a chance, I'm sure it's better than mine."

"You've done this before?" Alex asked, sitting with Reason on one side, Dean on the other.

"Last year I decided to try to do an oyster stew for Christmas dinner." Reason explained, "Except I was using dollar store smoked oysters and cooked it on hotplate." After a long pause she continued, "It was a disaster. I nearly started a fire and the stew was terrible."

"Well, this is my cooking, so, fifty-fifty shot." Sam replied. Between him and Hannah it's a wonder they hadn't somehow burned the bunker to the ground or given everyone food poisoning.

With that out of the way, they all doweled out bowel fulls of creamy white stew with green specks floating on top and grey oysters floating throughout. It was actually pretty good if one liked oyster. Alex and Cas filled up on bread (which there was a lot of because the meal was lot less coronated then thanksgiving, and Jody brought rolls) and Hannah, who got a small portion as usual, left the oyster as the bottom of her bowel, which Dean was more than happy to eat before Sam saw it.

After lunch was the event the kids had been waiting for: The opening of more presents.

"Okay, Dean now, these are for you." Reason said, pushing two wrapped objects towards him, before repeating the actions with Cas, "And these are for you."

Dean and Cas began to tear into the larger of the two packages, revealing identical pug beanie babies. "Mommy, Daddy, look, they're puppies!" Dean happily exclaimed, raising his up and the air for them to see, "And they're twins, too!"

"I see, buddy, that's so cool." Sam grinned down at them.

Cas, however, was more interested in the little heart-shaped tag. "Mommy, what does dis say?" He asked, holding his pug out to Hannah.

"Pugsley." Hannah began to read, "Pugsley is the hardest beanie baby to make because of all the creases in his face."

"What are creases?" Dean asked.

Turning Cas' dog around, Hannah pointed to the lines on its face. "These are creases." He explained, "These deep lines." Then she handed Pugsley.

As the boys unwrapped their other presents, a ball and pattle for Dean and Jacob's latter for Cas, Sam took two more presents from and handed them to Maudie. Maudie, opened the shorter present first, her face lighting up the moment she realized what it was. "Mommy, look, it's an Elsa doll!" She exclaimed, holding it up.

"That's so great, baby!" Reason beamed, thought inside she was worried about how much that must have cost.

Opening up her other present, a stick horse with a plush unicorn head.

"Oh, guys, you really didn't have to." Reason told her, happy for her daughter but somewhat mortified.

"Reason, we wanted to." Sam insisted.

Going to Reason Hannah whispered in her ear, "And whatever your thinking it cost, it wasn't nearly that." They may not know her that well, but she knew her well enough to realize what the problem was.

That was Reason, remembered, "Oh, Serena Joy dropped this off for the boys when she stopped by."

"Miss Serena gave me Dana!" Maudie told Jody and Alex holding the doll up for them to see.

"She's so pretty!" Jody beamed before whispering over to Sam, "Is that what I—"

"Yeah," Sam confirmed.

"Is there something wrong with her doll?" Hannah asked.

"No, it's just a—" Sam began, "I'll explain later."

As they were talking, the boys unwrapped the gifts, revealing an orange fox with black legs decked out in a black tie and little felt FBI badge, while Cas had a white bear with sliver bow around its neck and halo, with angel wings.

Seeing what Serena Joy had did there, Sam burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Hannah asked, not understanding.

Getting the joke after a minute, Jody started giggling, saying, "A monster hunter and angel!"

"What does that—" Alex, began.

"Like Sam, I'll explain later." Jody assured.

"Okay, there's one more gift here from each of you," Sam began, handing out the aforementioned presents, "From Miss Jody and Miss Alex."

"Fank you!" Maudie called out.

"Fank you!" The boys repeated.

"You're very welcome, boys," Jody responded, "Maudie."

The paper was tore back revealing an orange t-rex for Dean, a green stegosaurus for Cas and…another Pugsley beanie baby, except with a purple ribbon tied around it, for Maudie.

"We had no clue that you had got that for the boys." Jody said apologetically, "We weren't sure what to get, but we knew she liked purple and…somehow we came up with that."

"Actually, it works." Reason told them, "She's been coveting those dogs even since I brought them in."

As if to prove it, Maudie hugged the dog, telling the women again, "Fank you."

And so, the children played with their newfound treasures, the adult taught, catching up, making small talk, joking and laughing and giving a basic synopsis of _the X-Files._

"But why does she still look for monsters and aliens with him, if she doesn't believe in them?" Hannah asked.

"Well, because, well, for one thing she's not closed off to the possibility they exist." Sam explained, "She just needs some scientific proof, or to not be unconscious when weird crap happens."

"They complement each other." Reason added in.

"Wait, you know what this?" Sam asked, as Reason was little young to be of viewing age when the show was on the air.

"Like I told you before, I have only have a set of rabbit ears." Reason told her, "But 49 shows _X Files_ on Tuesdays, so when I'm not on the night shift, and when Maudie's gone down sometimes, I take a minute for myself and watch." After a beat she added, "Plus, it's one of those things where even if you don't watch the show you know the basics."

"To be fair I probably would know, but I'm technically feral and Hannah's not exactly from around here, so—" Alex justified.

"Hey, what exactly's going on over there?" Jody asked, peering over to where the kids were playing.

Lined up in a row were Dana, Elsa, Fox and Bear, were all lined up, riding dinosaurs or dogs, facing off against the rocking horse.

"Charge!" Maudie shouted, and suddenly the attack the was on, Dana and Nessie leading the charge. Soon they were all upon the horse, attacking. The horse fought back, knocking several of the warriors down. From what it looked like to the adults several lives were lost. But in the end, they victorious over the horseasourous, and they celebrated with playing of drums and trumpets and pigs that honk.

"I have to give it to you Sam," Alex commented, "When you do something, you go all out."

"Well, they're not going to be a little for long right?" Sam reasoned, before lowering his voice a little, "Besides, when it comes to Dean, I sort of owe him."

"What does that?" Reason asked, innocently curious.

"When we were going Dean—had to be the adult before he even hit double digits." Sam explained, "He basically raised me. Even if he never grows up, it still probably wouldn't even out."

"Man, that is deep." Alex commented.

At the point the children celebration was getting rather loud.

"Maybe you could give them an amazing childhood." Jody joked, causing everyone to burst out laughing.

Meanwhile, things had clam down at Rawls'. Elsbeth, Rawls, and Edith, were in the living room area chatting over coffee, Edith leaned up against the couch messing with guitar as well, while the girls played with their new pink tea set with white spots, Venessa, pouring imaginary tea for Scarlett as well as their new plush fawn, an Elsa _and_ an Ana doll (One for each sister). Scarlett looked up, hugging the fawn and asked, Edith can you play another song, please?"

Liking that idea, Venessa quickly added, "Please."

Edith smiled and started strumming her guitar, and began to sing, _"Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk, at our Christmas party…"_

"She isn't." Elsbeth said.

" _We were drinkin' champagne punch and homemade eggnog."_ Edith continued to sing.

"She is." Rawls confirmed.

" _Little sister brought her new boyfriend."_ Edith continued singing, unaware of their complaints, _"He was a Mexican. We didn't know what to think of him 'till he sang Feliz Navidad. Feliz Navidad. Brother Ken brought his kids with him. The three from his first wife Lynn. And the two identical twins from his second wife, Mary Nell. Of course, he brought his new wife Kay, who talks all about AA. Chain smokin' while the stereo plays Noel, Noel, the Frist Noel. Crave the turkey ,turn the ballgame on. Mix margaritas when the eggnog's gone. Send somebody to the Quik-Pak store. We need some ice and an extension cord, a can of bean dip and some Diet Rite, a box of pampers and some Marlboro Lights. Hallelujah everybody say cheese. Merry Christmas from the family."_ Then she noticed Elsbeth and Rawls eying her disapprovingly, "What?"

"Don't have any—I don't know, more child appropriate songs?" Elsbeth asked.

"What? What's inappropriate about it?" Edith challenged, "Besides, I know you both love this song," she lowered her voice saying, "even if that second verse hits a little close to home," then at her regular level said, "And the kids, are loving it, you are loving this, right girl?"

"Yeah." Both girls confirmed at about the same time.

"Sorry." Elsbeth conceded, "Proceed."

Edith began to play her guitar again, saying, " _Fran and Rita drove…."_

The hours whirled away and soon it was time for people to go home. This involved a lot of hugs and stalling.

"Fank you the dinosaurs." Dean told Jody and Alex, hugging each in turn.

"Fank you!" Cas repeated, getting brave enough to hug them as well.

"Oh, you're very welcome." Jody replied, pleased the Cas was starting to warm up to her.

"You could sleep over." Dean suggested, cleaning to Alex.

"Well, I didn't bring anything I would need." Alex reasoned trying to let him down easy, "Tell you what, I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay." Dean agreed reluctantly.

"And I'll call you later, too." Alex said, turning to Reason and hugging her.

"You better." Reason told, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Reason repeated before they went. Then she turned her attention to Hannah and Sam. "Thanks for inviting us, guys."

"Of course, we invited you." Hannah responded, not seeing the need for thanks.

"Come on," Sam began, "I'll give you and kid a ride home."

"Sam, I can't…" Reason began.

"Yes, you can." Sam cut her off, "We got everything cleaned up here, Hannah can watch the boys for herself for a minute, and it's dark out. I can't let you walk out there on the street with Maudie."

"Just give a minute to help her gather her things." Reason conceded.

As they drove to Reason's trailer with Maudie in the back with all her new toys, Maudie slumped over a car seat clinging to Nessie, Dana, and Elsa.

"She's out like a light back there." Reason told Sam, looking back at her daughter, then looking at Sam, "I think she really enjoyed herself today."

"I'm glad." Sam replied, "And, for the record, the boys loved those dogs."

"That was the goal." Reason quipped.

"So, you really tried to make oyster stew on a hot plate?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Reason confirmed, laughing a little," I know, it was dumb, but, you're not the only one who wants to do their kids a good Christmas."

"Well, I think you accomplished that mission." Sam commented, pulling up in front of the trailer, "And we're here."

"Thanks for the ride." Reason said again, opening the door, "Really, truly, thanks."

"It's no problem." Sam assured her.

Open the back, Reason got Maudie out of the seat, not wanting to wake, but also not wanting to make and second trip and tumbling to get everything at once.

"Here," Sam said, realizing what was happening and getting out of the car, "Let me help." Before she could respond he grabbed the horse, the sweaters and Elsa and Dana who had fell to the ground.

"Thanks." Reason replied, getting the diaper bag over her shoulder and shutting the door, "Christmas, the only holiday where you leave with more than you came with."

"Yeah." Sam laughed.

Walking into the trailer, Reason instructed, "Just set it all by the bed. I'll find a spot for it later."

Sam walked into the bedroom and sat everything by the foot of the bed, asking, "Do you have to work tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Reason confirmed, unzipping Maudie's jacket and taking it off her, "If you have something to do, I'll just park her under the pinball machine…"

"Don't worry, we don't have anything." Sam assured her, "What shift?"

"Seven to three." Reason answered, taking off Maudie's shoes.

Suddenly the little girl's eyes fluttered opened. "What's going on?" She asked in a sleepy voice.

"We're home sweetie." Reason explained.

"Oh." Maudie responded in a sleepy voice.

"Come on," Reason said, "Let's get you in your PJs. Sam, can you see your yourself out?"

"Yeah," Sam assured her, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Both girls chimed back, before they left.

By the time Sam got home, Hannah had already but their own little ones to bed, and the two spent the rest of the evening curled up with _Netflix,_ furthering the angel's education a little.

"No, I mean…maybe I did want to be out there with you." Scully was saying to Mulder.

"Ah, Sam, I know I don't know much about human courtship, but, ah, _are_ they supposed to be a couple?" Hannah asked.

"Well, that's a…confusing." Sam admitted.

"What do you mean?" Hannah asked.

"Well, the show' s creator said things were strictly platonic, but then they have this, almost courtly love thing going on and apparently they wound up having a baby some point." Sam rambled, "Please don't ask me about that, I was only ever a casual viewer of this show and was pretty confused about things like that most of the time."

"Oh." Hannah responded. After a beat, she asked, "Sam, is it true what those ghosts said? About Christmas being a horrible lonely time for people?'

Sam took a moment to think what he was going to say. "It can be." He admitted, "For people who don't have anyone to spend it with. Seeing all those people with their loved ones, it can be a little depressing for those people."

Hannah's heart sunk a little feeling so horrible for those poor people. Trying to comfort her, Sam put his arm around her. "Were you and Dean like that?"

"Not really, we still had each other." Sam replied, "Plus, we more less stopped caring. Well, maybe sometimes." After a beat he assured her, "But it's never gonna be like that again. For any of us."

 _Feliz Natividad!_

 **AN: Somewhat belated happy New Year everybody!**


	30. New Years Babysitting

**AN: Just a heads up, major spoilers for** _ **My Sister Keeper,**_ **ahead, so if you're planning on reading it, just fair warning.**

"Why do humans have so many holidays one after the other?" Hannah asked, "Where do they find the time?"

"Well, it's only during the fall and winter." Sam explained, "And New Years and Christmas are so close together because, well, that's just how time falls."

"Still it seems a bit excessive." Hannah replied.

"Well, after this it's over until like, April." Sam told her, "And most people celebrate the night before New Year's anyway."

"Why?" Hannah asked.

"Well, everyone wants to stay up until midnight, ring in the New Year." Sam reasoned, "I guess they need something to do in the meantime. "After a beat he added, "I mean, there's a parade out in Pasadena the day of, but that's about it. Half the places are closed and half the people are hung over."

Just then there was a knock on the door. "That's probably Reason." Sam said, getting up, "I'll get it."

Sam went to door, and sure enough, it was Reason. "Hey." She greeted.

"Hey." Sam repeated, "Maudie's in the stacks, come on in."

"Actually, Sam," Reason began nervously, "I need to talk to you."

"Okay," Sam agreed, somewhat worried, "About what?"

Reason fidgeted nervously, biting her lip, but finally said, "Denise, that's one of the other waitresses at the dinner, you haven't met her, anyway, she's heading off to Vegas or somewhere for New Year's Eve, and they want me to take her place as waitress that night."

"That's great." Sam replied, realizing that this could lead to an opportunity at upward mobility for Reason, even if it was just from bus girl to waitress.

"But there's one problem." Reason told him, "It's the eleven to seven shift. Wherever I put Maudie, she'll have to stay there…over night."

"Oh." Sam responded, it dawning her.

"Yeah, oh." Reason said sheepishly.

"Of course, Maudie can stay here over night." Sam assured her.

"That's not the only issue, thought." Reason informed him, "I have still have to work the seven to three shift. I'm trying to get one of the bus boys to switch with me so I can work the three to eleven instead, but if I can't…"

"Reason," Sam cut her off, "We'll figure this out, I promise."

Reason was able to convince Wyatt to switch shifts with her, and so, at two thirty New Year's Eve, reasoned backed up all of Maudie's usual things, -plus a change of clothes and toiletries, and started down the road.

"Okay, let's go over this again," Reason said, as they walked down the road, "Mommy has to work all night tonight, and won't be able to come for you in the morning, so I need you to be my big girl, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy." Maudie agreed softly.

"But Mommy will be there to pick you up in morning." Reason assured her, "And Mommy loves you."

"Love, Mommy." Maudie replied, snuggling into her chest.

"And you need to be good for Mr. Sam and Miss Hannah, okay?" Reason continued her instruction.

"Okay." Maudie repeated.

"What, am talking about, you're always good." Reason cut up, giving her little squeeze.

When they go to the bunker Sam was waiting outside for there, which worried her a bit. "Is everything okay?" Reason asked.

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you." Sam assured them, "Come on in."

They pair stepped in and Reason sat her daughter on the ground. "Thank you so much again for doing this."

"Reason, I keep telling you, it's no trouble." Sam insisted.

"Yeah, well, you still can't stop me from being grateful." Reason countered, handing Sam the bag, "Everything's in there, toothbrush, pullup, change of clothes, two actually in case of—you know, accidents—and various toys, and a couple books. Now, she's still not potty trained, so be prepared for a diaper changed, now, you know the basic emergency, numbers, right?"

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "Yeah, I know them."

"And if it's a real emergency you can call me." Reason said, "Now, she's started this thing where she'll try to convince you she's allergic to things she doesn't like ,particularly green beans, don't believe her. She doesn't even know what allergic means. In fact, she hasn't shown signs of being allergic to anything yet. And if she has trouble going down—"

"'When the Saints', 'Warrior is a Child' or basically anything by Switchfoot." Sam cut her off, "Reason, don't worry, it'll be fine."

"I know." Reason admitted, "I'm sorry. It's just I left her nights here before, but I've never left her—overnight. Like, 'till morning and past anyway."

"I know." Sam repeated, "But she'll be fine. Don't worry."

"I'll work on that." Reason said, before crouching down, turning back to her daughter, "Come Maudie, say goodbye to Mommy."

Maudie walked over and found herself engulfed in a huge. "Goodbye my sweet girl." Reason said, before given the little girl a kiss on the forehead, "I love you so much."

"Love you too, Mommy." Maudie replied as Reason let go.

Reason waved as she walked out. "See you later, Sam."

"You too." Sam agreed. When she was gone, he shut the door and turned his attention to Maudie. "You want to go see Dean and Cas."

Maudie's face lit up, already heading down the stairs, "Yes, yes!"

"Hey, Sal." Reason called out to the cook through the kitchen window as she clocked.

"Hey, girlie." Sal greeted, not looking up from the Ruben he was cooking.

Davy, the assistant cook, looked up and smiled at her. "Hey, Reason."

"Hey, Davy." She replied.

"Hey, bus girl." Karine snapped, "Quit flirting with the cook and get on that table." She pointed to a table that someone had really made a mess of.

As Reason went to get a towel, the other waitress, a young woman about the same age as Serena Joy, give or take, long dark hair pulled up in a ponytail, spoke up, "You know, the 'bus girl' has a name."

"Like you know what her name is." Karine retorted.

As Reason started whipping off the table, the dark-haired waitress came over to her. "Here, let me help you with that."

"No, it's fine." Reason responded, "You have table to wait on."

"Dinner rush isn't even in yet, it'll be fine." The waitress assured her, "I'm Lucy, by the way."

"Reason." She introduced herself.

"Reason." Lucy repeated to herself, "I wasn't even close."

"What did you think my name was?" Reason asked.

"Eeh…Rhoda." Lucy answered.

Reason busted out laughing. "How did you-?"

"I don't know." Lucy responded, "It's not like you have a name tag. At least it started with an R."

In the bunker, the kids were playing with their dinosaurs, while Sam did some work and Hannah watched, when noticed Maudie seemed a little …off. The little girl just pushed Nessie around on the ground and she had this look on her face.

Crouching down, Hannah crouched down. "Maudie, I need to check on something, okay?" Maudie nodded as Hannah touched her cheek. It felt a little warm, but Hannah wasn't sure. "Sam, can you come here for a second?"

Sam got up and went over to them crouching down beside Hannah.

"She's warm," Hannah explained, "But I'm not sure if this is a fever."

"I don't feel good." Maudie announced as Sam felt her cheek.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fever." Sam confirmed.

Hannah reached out heal her, only for the child to start heaving, opening her mouth and spewing chunks of vomit on the floor.

"Grossie!" Dean exclaimed. Cas just backed away from the mess silently.

"Alright, I'm going to clean this up, you get Maudie somewhere and do your thing." Sam instructed.

"Okay." Hannah greed, picking Maudie up and taking her into the nearest bathroom.

"I'm sorry." The little girl moaned, starting to cry as Hannah sat her down on the sink counter.

"It's alright honey, you couldn't help being sick." Hannah assured her, taking a towel and whipping the toddler's mouth. She then put a hand on her forehead. "Better?"

Maudie nodded. "Fank you."

"You're welcome, Maudie." Hannah responded, "So, do you want to wait here a couple of minutes just to make sure everything's okay?"

Maudie nodded.

By the time Hannah came back in the room with Maudie, Sam had just finished cleaning up the puke. "How she doing?" He asked.

"A lot better." Hannah answered, setting her down.

Dean and Cas however, slowly back away.

"Dean, Castiel," Sam scolded, "She's your friend. She was just stick. She's better now, though, so go play with her."

The boys tentively stepped up to Maudie.

"Boys, she didn't have the plague." Hannah told them.

"What's the plague?" Cas asked.

"That's a really bad disease." Sam asked, "But Maudie didn't have that, and she's better now anyway. She's safe."

Dean picked one of the dinosaurs and handed it to her. Suddenly they were playing as if nothing had happened.

That was when Sam looked down at his watch and saw what time it was. "Mind watching them while I put dinner on?" Sam whispered.

"I never mind." Hannah told him.

"Thanks." Sam replied before heading off.

Back at _The Hot Spot,_ the dinner rush has started.

Reason was running from table to table, one fishing before she could even finish another. At a table to people were laughing about something, when one of them elbowed their coke, sending it flying.

"Someone get a mop!" Karine called out, taking a tray of plates from the counter.

Reason knew by someone they meant her. Running to the back closet she pulled out a gray, bucket and began filling it with water, putting in Pine sol. When it was full enough, she grabbed the mop and went back out.

As Reason was making her way back to the table, Serena Joy, dressed to the nines, red short sleeved dress with a skirt that went to the ankles and red heels, came walking in, holding several different pies and cake containers. "Hey, Sal!" She called out, "A little help out here?"

Not looking where she was going, Reason bumped into Serena Joy, who was barely keeping a hold of everything in her hands and desperately trying to balance on the heels. Suddenly everything went flying.

Out of nowhere, Lucy shout out with an empty tray, two of the boxes with said tray in another with her hand. Serena Joy managed to keep hold of one and Reason managed to catch one as well, except she wound up flat on her back in the process.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Serena Joy asked, putting down the box and helping her friend up.

"Yeah, I think so." Reason responded, "This can't bold well for tonight, thought."

"Hey, this, here was a group effort." Serena Joy told her, "This doesn't mean you do great tonight."

"What's tonight?" Lucy asked.

"I'm subbing for Denise as waitress." Reason explained.

"Denise?" Lucy repeated, "Sorry, I don't know that much about the girls not on my usual shift, which, now that I hear myself saying it sounds pretty awful."

"Well, Denise headed off to New York or somewhere tonight, so Reason here got called up to the big leagues." Serena Joy explained, "But is also stuck working two shifts."

"That's not fair." Lucy criticized, "Seriously, why doesn't Howard hire more people."

"Yeah, this gives me a shot at the big leagues, so I'm not complaining." Reason responded, sitting the tray down.

Lucy gave her a funny look. "I'd aim a bit higher." She said before taking the rest of the deserts, "I'll go get these set up."

"Thanks." Serena Joy replied, before turning her attention back to Reason, grabbing her by both shoulders, "Good luck tonight, kid. You got this." And with that she left.

Reason took the mop and went to the soda.

Meanwhile, back at bunker, everyone was sitting down at the kitchen table to what basically amounted to cheesy tuna and noodles.

Since the Dean and Castiel were deaged and Sam had been put in charge of most of the cooking, he had been surprised to fine how many different recipes there were online. Also, how many casseroles and skillets there were. Also, how many things could be made out of a can of soup. Of course, if the kids would eat it as another matter, but he'd made this combination of ramen, mixed vegetables, cream of mushroom soup, mozzarella, and tuna had gone over well before.

And it seemed to be going over well tonight, as everyone seemed to be eating it relish, even Maudie, who seemed to have completely recovered from her stomach bug. "Miss Hannah," She spoke up suddenly, "Have a question."

"What is it, Maudie?" Hannah responded.

"Why don't you ever each much?" Maudie questioned.

Hannah looked down at extremely small amount of food she had basically been pushing around on her plate. She had to admit, it looked odd.

Suddenly Sam knew what to say. "You how Hannah was able to make you and your Mommy feel better when you were sick, and was able to do it again earlier?"

"Yeah." Maudie answered, nodding.

"Well, the same thing that causes her to be able to do that, causes her to not need as much food." Sam explained, which was technically true. Sam wasn't sure if Reason had told Maudie if one of her playmates and their mother were angels, so he was trying to avoid the A word.

"Cool." Maudie grinned, seemingly stratified with the answer and beginning to eat again.

As the adults were cleaning up, afterwards, Sam noticed Dean was looking a little sick. "You okay there, buddy?"

"I don't feel too good…." Dean answered, before much like Maudie before him, vomited what he just ate all over the floor.

Hannah scooped up Sam. "I'll take care of this."

"I'll clean it up again." Sam told her, before looking at the remaining two children. "Ah, Cas, Maudie, can you step back?"

The toddlers obeyed as Hannah carried Dean off to the bathroom. Sitting him on the counter she put a hand to his chest, asking, "How long have you been sick, little one?"

"Don't know." Dean answered.

"Did you feel hot?" Hannah questioned.

Dean nodded. "Umm-hmm."

"Sweetie." Hannah sighed, "You have to tell Mommy or Daddy when something like that happens."

"Didn't know it meant sick." Dean moaned, "Sorry."

"It's alright." Hannah assured him, "Now you know."

Once again Sam had finished cleaning up the mess by the time Hannah returned to Dean. As she sat him on the ground, Sam said, "Bud, Daddy needs to talk with Mommy for a minute, go play with the others."

Dean obeyed and this this time he was quickly accepted back in the group.

"Do you think we need to keep an eye on Cas?" Sam asked, "You know in case he gets it? "After a beat he realized, "Assuming the other two don't get it again?"

"Castiel still seems to have an angelic residence to diseases, so we're probably alright there." Hannah reasoned, "What I don't understand is how Dean got it, even after I healed Maudie."

"Well, maybe she had already given it to Dean by then." Sam speculated, "I mean, whatever it is it seems to come on fast, Reason wouldn't have brought Maudie if she knew she was sick, or at the very least she would have warned us, so we know she wasn't symptomatic when she left the house. Assuming Dean didn't give it to her and she just threw up first. Or maybe healing doesn't actually get rid of the germ. Or some combination of all three."

"So that means they could just switch it back and forth to each other for who knows how long." Hannah declared, "Cas, too, if I'm wrong about him."

"Great." Sam sighed, looking on at the kids.

"I really hope that was sarcasm, Sam." Hannah told her. She still didn't always catch it sometimes.

"Yeah, it was." Sam confirmed.

They let the kids play for a little bit longer before ushering them all up for their baths. "What that-?" Maudie asked, pointing to the tub, standing in the doorway.

"This a bath." Sam answered as he let the tub fill up, "You know, what you get clean in."

"No," Maudie responded before walking closer to the tub, "What this?"

"Oh," Sam uttered, surprised for minute, then it occurred to him that there probably wasn't a tub in the trailer. Who knew if there was even a shower? He'd never actually been to Reason's bath room. "This is tub. It's a thing some people take a bath in."

"Oh." Maudie replied.

After checking the water Sam put up the toilet seat, putting the training seat on top They didn't like chancing accidents in tub. "The boys have already gone, so now it's your turn."

"No." Maudie protested, hugging herself, "Pullup."

Both adults had momentarily forgot about Reason's complaint about Maudie not being toilet trained yet. Normally this wouldn't be an issue as the boys were still working on the potty thing as well, but with the evening's outbreak the idea of touching a messy Pullup and possibly making himself sick and the kids sick again made Sam blanche, and Hannah herself would probably be fine touching it, he wasn't sure if she could still carry the germ.

"I'm sorry, Maudie, no, not tonight." Sam said, "Do you know what a germ is, honey?"

Maudie shook her head.

"Germs are things so teeny tiny that you can't see them." Sam began, "But they make you sick. They make us sick when get cough or sneezed on a sick person or touch something the sick person touched or coughed or sneezed on and when we have a sick tummy our throw up or poop can make people sick."

Maudie looked at him uncertainly, "But Miss Hannah fixed it…"

"I don't know if I fixed the germ, little one." Hannah cut in.

Maudie bit her lip. "Okay." After a beat she added, "But not here."

"Why not?" Sam asked, not seeing what was wrong.

"Too many boys!" Maudie exclaimed, as if it was obvious.

Sam suppressed a laugh as he got the potty seat. "Hannah, you know where the next bathroom is?"

Hannah nodded taking the seat then taking Maudie's hand as the walked out of the room.

"No one else will get sick now?" Maudie asked as they walked down the hall.

"We can't guarantee it, but this lessens the chances." Hannah told her, "All because of you!"

Maudie grinned.

When they got to the bathroom, Hannah flipped the lid and put the potty seat on it. Maudie looked at the toilet seat apprehensively and it occurred to Hannah that from the little girl's perspective it must be very high up. "The boys have a stool," Hannah began, "I think we left it back in that bathroom…tell you what, why don't I just set you on it just this once?" Hannah leaned down and helped unsnap Maudie pants, then Maudie managed to pull down everything herself. At least she had paid that much attention to Reason's toilet training. Picking the girl up, Hannah set her down on the seat. "Do you want me to stay here or wait outside?"

Maudie pointed outside.

"I'll be right outside if you need me." Hannah assured her before wandering out into the hallway.

After a few minutes, Maudie called out, "Miss Hannah, I need you!"

Hannah stepped bac into the doorway to find Maudie struggling to get off the toilet. "I stuck."

Crouching down, Hannah suggested, "Actually honey, why don't you just sit here for a few more minutes just to make sure you're really all done and I'll go get the stool?"

"No!" Maudie protested reaching out to grab her, "Stay."

Hannah froze for a minute, unsure of what to do. "Alright, Maudie, I'll stay."

After a few more minutes and little tinkle, Hannah helped Maudie up and to the angel's utter surprised, the toddler went straight for the toilet paper. "No itchy butt." Maudie declared when she saw she was being watched, "Mommy show me, and show me!"

Now it was Hannah's turn to fight back a laugh. "Good girl. Now, do you know what to do next?"

Maudie's face fell and she put her hands over her ears, moaning, "No, don't wanna…."

Realizing Maudie, like a lot of small children, found the flushing sound scary assured her, "It's alright, you just—wash your hands, I'll take care of it."

After Maudie got her hands washed and Hannah flushed while the toddler covered her ears and chanted "be careful" over and over, they started back down the hall. "Thank you so much for being such a big girl."

"Your welcome." Maudie told replied.

When they got back to the other bathroom, the only one that actually had a tub, Sam already had the boys in. "We ready?"

"I think so." Hannah said leaning down to help Maudie undress while Sam turned around. "Sam, what are you doing?"

"She doesn't want to pee in front of boys, who knows how she'll feel about—getting naked." Sam reasoned.

Maudie, however, apparently was only selectively modest, as she was contently stripping off her clothes. "What now?"

"Now," Hannah replied, scooping her up again, "You get in the tub." However, the proved easier said than done, as when she put Maudie in, she found she didn't really fit.

The adults tried every way they could think of to fit Maudie in, but in the end had to accept the tub was only big enough to fit two toddlers.

"What do we do now?" Sam asked, trying to think of a solution.

Sitting on the side of the tub, Maudie had an idea. "Shower!"

"Shower?" Sam repeated.

"Me and Mommy shower." Maudie reasoned.

Sam and Hannah looked at each other. "It's worth a shot." Sam declared.

And so, Hannah carried Maudie and some extra toiletries to the showers. Maudie, who was in nothing but a towel, took off the towel walked in while Hannah undressed. Turning around she looked down to see Maudie sitting right under the showerhead batting at a green rubber octopus, like a cat. "Maudie, what are you doing?"

"Waiting." Maudie answered, as Hannah stepped in.

Hannah reached down and picked Maudie up, moving the child out of the way of the spray, "Miss Hannah's not very good with the shower, little one. Let me get it right first so I don't burn you." She turned one of the knobs was hit by a scalding hot water, causing her to jump back with a yelp. "You see?"

Maudie giggled.

"Glad to see you my discomfort assumes you." Hannah joked, then worrying that was bit over the little girl head added, "That was joke."

After getting the water the right temperature, Hannah put Maudie back under the shower head and squeezed the shampoo out in her hand while Maudie was playing with little green rubber octopus. "I'm going to wash your hair now, Maudie." She announced, wanting to give the child fair warning.

"Mommy does the soap first." Maudie informed her softly.

"Can we do the shampoo first, just this once?" Hannah suggested.

"Why?" Maudie wined.

"Because I already poured the shampoo out and it won't fit back in the bottle." Hannah explained, hopping the explanation was enough to avoid a tantrum.

"Okay." Maudie agreed, letting Hannah put the pale-yellow shampoo in her hair.

Maudie's hair took somewhat longer than the boys, Hannah discovered, as it was longer so there was more area to cover, but eventually they go it clean. But when Hannah went for the soap, she got another surprise. "No!" Maudie exclaimed, "Your turn."

"Maudie, I'm clean." Hannah assured her.

"Your turn." Hannah repeated, folding her arms.

"Alright, alright." Hannah agreed, starting on her own hair. She heard once that boys were easier, and thought she still liked Maudie she was starting to believe it.

Still, somehow, they both got scrubbed, clean and they girls were face with a painful task: Combing out the knots.

"Ow!" Maudie screamed, as Hannah hit let another knot.

"I'm sorry." Hannah exclaimed, genuinely distressed as causing the girl pain, "I just don't know how to get rid of these knots. How did this even happen?"

That was when Sam, who had finished with the boys, stopped by the check. "Everything okay in here?"

"No." Hannah replied, "Her hair's turning into these—clumps and nothing seems to get them out, and everything I do seems to hurt her."

"Alright, everyone stays calm," Sam said, walking into the room, and taking the comb, "Let's just—look to see what's going here." In truth he wasn't entirely sure what he was doing either. Running the comb through her hair, he admittedly hit a tangle, causing Maudie to whimper. "Sorry." Sam declared. He combed it through a couple of times and then managed to get it smooth, "Alright," He said, "I think I got this now."

With that, Sam took over the hair combing, while Hannah searched for night clothes in the overstuffed diaper bag.

"Mommy put in the really pretty one." Maudie told Sam as he brushed, "With birdies and berries on them."

"That's sounds pretty." Sam told her.

"Sam," Hannah spoke up as she laid tiny pair of jeans and Maudie's own lilac sweater, what she assumed were suppose to be the clothes for tomorrow, "Where are the boys?"

"I told them to stay until that bathroom until I got back." Sam answered.

"Is that wise?" Hannah asked, worried. Castiel tended to stay wherever you put him until he you came back to get him, but he did get upset if you left him too long, and Dean sometimes liked to go up on adventures. Just then she pulled out the gown, an ivory flannel thing, patterned with chickadees and red berries and pinecones. "I'll go check on them." Hannah said, getting up.

However, Sam noticed one problem with this division of labor. "Wait, Hannah, you should probably put your clothes back on." Right now, like Maudie, she was dressed in nothing but a towel. "I mean, I think if anything big was going on we would hear it."

"Alright." Hannah agreed, letting the towel drop.

"Oh my gosh!" Sam exclaimed turning his head. It wasn't like he hadn't seen a naked woman before, he just hadn't been expecting that, which exacerbated his reaction.

That alarmed Hannah somewhat. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just um…" Sam began, practically turning his head all was the way around as Maudie giggled.

That was when she realized what was going on. "Are you—does this bother you?"

"Ah, I wouldn't exactly say bothered." Sam replied, "I mean, you have a- very nice body." He didn't realize until now she had an honest-to-God hour glass waist. "It's just—not that appropriate."

That was when Maudie spoke up. "Why?"

Sam paused a moment. How could he explain this to her? "Because boys aren't supposing to look at girls necked."

"Why?" Maudie and Hannah asked at the same time.

"I seriously have to explain it you too?" Sam asked.

"Sam, I see the boys naked all the time, you've never said anything before." Hannah reasoned.

"You're a mother dressing and bathing small children who can't do it themselves." Sam explained, "That's different. With two adults…please don't make me go into detail in front of the child."

"Well," Hannah said, finishing buttoning her blouse, "Well, I believe I'm sufficiently clothed now. You can turn back around."

Sam did. "Sorry. I probably overreacted a bit."

Maudie couldn't stop laughing.

Meanwhile, things at the dinner had clam down enough for Reason to slip into the kitchen and start the dishes. If only she could keep her mind on it. She keeps worrying about Maudie. It wasn't like she slept at the Winchester's before, but this was the first time staying all night—well intentionally at least—and all the came with it. What she got scared? What if she got sick? What is she had nightmare, or worst, a night terror? What is she acted up? What if…

It was then she noticed as she put the plate in the drying rack, that it was still covered in soap suds and she had left some sauce on it. Turning to the rack she realized she had left several plates in the same state. Panicked, she grabbed them all, throwing them back into the water and splashing her sweater.

All the while, Davy just steeling glances at her while he was string at pot of French onion soup.

"Pssh, peeping Tom." Sal whispered, "Why don't you stop staring at her and go over there and _talk to her."_

"Ah, a little busy here." Davy pointed out, gesturing to the pot of soup, "So is she."

"The soup's almost ready, I can take it from here, and Reason can multi-task." Sal reasoned, "I know you like her."

"No, I don't." Davy protested, "Not the way you meant at least."

"I see you looking at her, the _way_ you look at her." Sal told him, "And the flirting—"

"I don't _flirt_ with her." Davy cut him off, "Besides, I don't really think she's looking for a relationship right now."

"And why not?" Saul challenged.

"Because she has a kid!" Davy informed him.

"What?" Sal balked.

"Yeah, Jerry lets her park her under the pinball machine." Davy explained, "Or at least she uses to. Apparently, a while back she handed her off to some guy and no one's really seen her around."

"Well, maybe she gave the baby up for adoption." Sal speculated, "I mean, she's a baby herself."

"Actually, it's more of a toddler—" Davy began.

"A friend's watching her." Reason caused out, causing both men to turn to look at her. "A friend of mine of is watching her." She repeated, "They have a couple of kids her age, the man offered to watch her while I was here, and it became a more than one-time thing." After a beat she added, "And I would appreciate if you don't gossip about me."

That was met with awkward silence. "We weren't…." Davy began.

"I just wanted him to talk you." Sal finished, as if they were saying the same sentence. After a he added, "I had no clue you had a kid until five seconds ago. By the way, might be, ah, out of line to ask, but ah, you got pictures?"

Reason smiled. "Do I have pictures?" She pulled the polaroid's, holding them out. "There are from Christmas." After a beat she added, "She's two, but, ah, she'll be three this March."

Saul took the pictures and began flipping through him. "She's beautiful." He declared, "Really, gorgeous."

Reason beamed. "Thank you."

"Dean, you need to stop jumping." Sam told him, "It's time to actually get in the bed."

"But I'se got the hops." Dean protested.

Sam took a deep breath and exhaled. "Dean, your brother and your friend don't have the hops and they want to sleep."

"They can sleep." Dean responded, still jumping, "I'se don't mind."

"You're not getting it buddy." Sam informed him, "They _can't_ get to sleep with you jumping. It'll keep them up."

"Oh." Dean said sullenly, falling the ground.

"Come on, bud." Sam said, picking up a stuffed toy, "I got your bear."

"Can I have Domino too?" Dean requested.

Sam smiled, grabbing the blue-spotted dog. "Yeah, you can have Domino, too."

Meanwhile, Cas had been rather low maintenance tonight, only wanting Coat, was already tucked into bed, leaving Hannah to turn her attention to their guest.

"Here's your little seal." She told her, handing it to the child, who took it to her chest.

"Can I sleep with Dana too?" Maudie asked.

"Yes," Hannah answered, handing her the doll.

"Miss Hannah?" Maudie began.

"Yes, Maudie?" Hannah responded.

"Danna can't sleep without Nessie." Maudie infirmed her.

Hannah couldn't help smirk. _That's a new one._ Since the deaging she learned that, when you're two at least, inanimate objects were capable of feeling. They got scared but needed help to get anywhere since they couldn't on their own, they didn't like baths or were scared of the washing machine, they weren't particularly fond of naptime, or didn't want to stop playing. They sometimes knocked things over.

Dana got her sleep mate and Maudie got the sheet pulled over her, which she proceeded to pull all the way over her head.

"Are you sure you don't want a bed to sleep in?" Hannah asked, "We could find you one."

"No, I good." Maudie answered from beneath the mass of blankets.

By that time Sam had finished with Dean. "Any requests for tonight?"

"Pokey puppy!" Dean exclaimed.

"Again?" Sam questioned. This would put them at reading _The Pokey Little Puppy_ for a week straight. "Why don't we see what the others think?"

"Pokey puppy!" Cas repeated.

 _Thanks, bud._ Sam thought. "Maudie?"

"That okay." Maudie agreed. For her this was something different.

"Okay," Sam gave in, looking for the book.

"Daddy read?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, Daddy read." Sam agreed, finding it. Flipping it open he began, "Five puppies dig a hole under the fence and went for a walk in the wide, wide, world…"

After the children was asleep, the adults parted ways, Sam going off to his own room. He was taking off his overshirt he glanced over at the book Hannah had gotten him, which was currently on his nightstand by the bed. In the week since they exchanged gifts, Sam had really only got a chance to read the back, and all he knew was stuff he might have heard back when the book was knowing, as it was oddly familiar: teenager girl conceived to keep her older sister alive does something, and all the seconds began with quotes. Beyond that, he hadn't actually read it. _Well, I have the time now. I could just start it…  
_ Laying down on the bed, he cracked the book opened the book to the prolog, _In my first memory, I am three years old and I am trying to kill my sister…_

At ten to eleven at the diner, the place is nearly deserted, there's some guy in a long green coat in the corner that's making everyone a little nervous, but that wasn't the only reason Reason was on edge.

Karine was leaned against the countering, scowling as she waited for her replacement to show up. Reason was her replacement, but she couldn't technically relieve Karine until John got there to relive her. And they all lived in the house that Jack built.

"Pssh, Reason." A voice whispered behind her. She turned around and saw Davy behind her, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure." Reason answered apprehensively, following him.

"So, Lucy tells me you're doing the second night shift as a waitress." Davy said, stopping at a closet, "And I have something I think you'll like."

Five minutes later, Reason stepped out of the women's bathroom, tugging at her peach-colored uniform. It was a bit too big enough that she had taken a few safety pins to it.

"You look great, kid." Lucy complimented.

"Thanks." Reason replied sheepishly, looking down, "I'm still not sure about the—" She pushed at the name tag, which read _Faylene,_ evidence of the person who had worn it before her.

Davy smirked as he walked up to her. "Think of it this way." He instructed, adjusting her name tag, "Tonight, for eight hours, this dinner is an alternate universe. Reason doesn't exist in this universe. Faylene does. And Faylene can be whatever you want her to be."

"You make it all sound so mysterious." Reason replied.

"A little mystery can be a good thing." Davy told her.

Karine interrupted him with a loud snort. "Whatever, can I go home now?"

Just then a John walked in.

"Yeah." Reason declared.

By the time Reason clocked out and back in again, most of the second night shift had arrived. Patrice, a brunette with her hair back in pigtails, Spencer, a shaggy haired scrawny man and his thirties, and Jiya, a young woman about Serena Joy's age, with cinnamon brown skin and long rave hair pulled back int a braid.

Even on New Year's Eve, _The Hot Spot,_ at eleven at night, was anything but. In fact, it was emptier than it usually was. The creepy guy in the coat had paid his bill and left, and now the only people in the restraunt was its employees, Patrice and Spencer were trying to make a can tower in the kitchen, John was currently playing the pinball machine, and losing, and Jiya and Reason were leaned up against the tower.

"Is it always this…" Reason began.

"Dead?" Jiya finished for her.

"I was going to say empty." Reason replied, "Sorry, I've never actually worked this shift before. Well, I've worked it a couple of times-"

"I know." Jiya responded, "Well, usually we get a couple of people, the odd insomniac or trucker, drunk that we have to run out of here." After a beat she added, "I hope you weren't hopping on getting too many tips."

Reason shifted awkwardly. She knew she wouldn't make a _lot_ in regards to that area, but she hoped to make _something._

"Tell you what," Jiya continued, reaching around the counter and pulling out a green glass bottle, "As long as we're stuck here, on a special occasion, we might as well have a little fun."

"No thank you." Reason replied politely.

"Oh, come on," Jiya urged, "Like you don't goof when nothing's going. I've seen you and Serena dancing. "Then she called out to the others. Hey, guys, come get some of this!"

"The thing is," Reason informed her nervously, "I don't ah, actually drink."

"Oh." Jiya responded, "Well, we can still make this work."

Five minutes later, everyone, save Reason, who was still sipping on her first cup which was mixed with a _lot_ of water, enough to basically turn it into very weak grape juice, while talking. "Hey, how's my new favorite tea toller doing over there?"

"I'm okay." Reason replied, taking another sip. So, far she wasn't sure what the big appeal was.

"Hey, guys look," John interjected, pointing at the clock which was ticking closer and closer to twelve.

"Hey, guy," Patrice spoke up, "How bout a countdown?"

"Patty, how much have you had to drink?" Jiya questioned.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun." Patrice urged.

"Alright, let's do this," Spencer declared, "Ten…"

They all soon joined in. "…Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Happy new year!" And with that, they all toasted 2015.

Just then a new song came over the speaker. "Ah, man, this is my jam!" Jiya declared, starting to move before she even stepped out into the middle of the floor. _"She says it's cold outside, and she hands me a raincoat. She always worried about things like that. ""_ Hey, someone want to help me out here?" Jiya requested, "You. Faylene."

 _How much have_ you _had to drink?_ Reason thought, shaking her head.

"Come on, Serena won't mind." Jiya urged," Don't make me dance alone."

Reason stepped out of the group and was instantly grabbed by Jiya, who spun her around the room as she sung, " _And she says baby, it's three AM and I must be lonely. And she says baby, well I can't help but be scared of it all sometimes, the rain's gonna wash away I believe this…"_

Sam didn't just start it. He read the whole thing through. He might have found the one family more messed up then his was, and he found himself relating to most of the character—except for Sara who he absolutely to loathed. As a parent he could somewhat understand—somewhat because he had fortunate never had a terminal ill child—but the didn't undermined the Hell she put her other two children through save Kate. Seriously, your six-year-old is having her bones drilled and you can't see her? Suing to not give up her kidney is just wanting attention? Seriously, Hannah would balk at this woman. He couldn't help but love Brian thought, or emphasize a little with Jesse and a very weak sort of way. He too doesn't know what it's like to have a kid sister dying of cancer. Also, he never considered arson And then there's Anna and Kate's relationship. Still, he didn't see Kate convincing Anna to file the lawsuit. Or her lawyer having epileptic seizure. All he could really think at that part is, _so that's what the dog was for._ He's reading as fast he can, going from page to the next, partially desperate to see what happens next…

And he no more saw the car crash then the people involved did.

Hannah tore herself away from the children long enough to go back to her room for a few hours, standing in front of the far which had a large map she put up a few days after finding Ami, along with pictures and various papers and documentation pinned to the wall. Her murder board, Sam called it, although she kept telling him she had no intention of murdering anyone. She felt a sight pang of guilt looking at it. After Ami, she only went after three rouges, and one of them turned out to actually be a hoax, nothing angelic at all. Apparently taking care of small children made it difficult to work. She had some possible leads, though, burning bush in town in Washington that also had a police bulletin about a Jane Doe found alive, but unable to give them her name from around the time of the fall, an human interest story on a faith healer in Illinois, a puff piece about a freak show, whatever that was, with strong man, whatever that was, who was rather leaned, yet could lift a car over his head. It looked like the show might actually be coming to town soon. Something in Oregon that was taking people and leaving their clothes. She wasn't sure about that one, but maybe she should send it Sam's way…

That was when Sam shouted, "Son of a bitch!"

Alarmed, Hannah first ran to the boys' room, thinking something very bad was happening there. When she found not only was everything alright in there, the children hadn't even been woken by the outburst. Running to Sam's room, she saw the hunter on his bed, a book thrown down on it. A sense of relief washed over her, as whatever happened, he seemed to not be harmed.

That was when Sam realized Hannah was there and what he had done. "Oh, Hannah, I'm sorry." He apologized, "I didn't wake the kids up, did I?"

"No," Hannah assured him, "I was just worried about you. What happened?"

"Nothing." Sam replied, "This, ah, book just kinda got to me." He was starting to get slightly embarrassed. He had spent most of his adult life, and fair portion of his childhood, dealing with horrors most couldn't imagine and time to time saw the worst of humanity in the process, yet fictional event makes him scream, risked waking up the children, and scared his co-parent.

"How?" Hannah asked.

Sam moved to set up right. "You might want to sit down. This could take a minute."

And so, Sam gave her a basic run down.

"And then, just about Anna wins the case, she gets in a car wreck and winds up brain dead." Sam finished, "And from I what I gathered before my, um, little freak out, Kates get the kidney."

Hannah made a bewildered face. "I was not anticipating that."

"Yeah, neither was I." Sam replied, "Hince the screaming. I mean, I suppose it makes it more like real life, sometimes things just—happen randomly, but still, doesn't make it any better."

"I'm so sorry, Sam," Hannah begin, "If I'd known…"

"Hey," Sam cut her, off, pulling her into a side hug, "It's not your fault, it's not like you wrote the book. And besides, I still enjoyed the ride." _Even with the gut punch._ "That's what good books can do."

They were silent for a moment, then Hannah said, "That poor girl…"

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "And I thought my family was nuts."

That was when the clock on the side of the nightstand turned to 12:00.

"Hey, we made it to 2015." Sam announced.

Glancing over at clock Hannah saw it was true. "Yeah. Yeah, we did." She didn't know why, but she like they had just made some great accomplishment. She looked over at Sam. "Happy New Year Sam Winchester."

Eventually people started coming in and by the time Faylene turned back into Reason, she actually had eight dollars in tips. It wasn't much, but it something. More than she expected to make, even.

When walked out she saw a now familiar black Impala sitting in the parking lot.

Sam, sitting in the car, was on the phone with Serena Joy.

"You got her?" Serena Joy asked from the other end of the call, poking what was either a weather balloon, or a UFO, she wasn't sure, with a stick.

"Yeah, I see right now." Sam replied, honking his horn to get her attention.

"Ah, thank you Sam." Serena Joy berthed, letting out a sigh of relief, "If anything happened that kid, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself, but, I, ah, have a situation on my hands here. Speaking of which, while I have you on the line, have you ever encountered, ah, extraterrestrial life in your work?"

"No, in fact, the general conscience is if there's life out there if ain't visiting here." Sam answered, "I mean, Dean did get abducted one time about—four years back but that turned out to be fairies. Why?"

"Well, me and Rawls were at this New Year's Eve party at high school girlfriend of mine's house," Serena Joy began, picking up a flap of metal, "And you know the tradition of firing a shot in the air to celebrate new year? Well, this guy, J. T., gets a shot off, and long story short he actually hit something in the sky and it crashed on the lawn, and we've got it narrowed down alien ship, or weather balloon. In either case what it was doing out in a Kansas Cul-de-sac is anyone's guess."

Sam wasn't really sure how to respond to that. "Alright, well, Reason's in the car, so I gotta go. Good luck with your—weather balloon problems."

"Is it okay if I ask what that was about?" Reason requested.

"Yeah, Serena Joy just wanted to make sure I got you." Sam explained, "And apparently New Year's festivities got a little out of hand last night." After a beat he changed the subject, "So, how's it go last night?"

"Actually, pretty good." Reason replied, "I mean, I'm not sure if I made an impression or not, but—" She had to stop to yawn, "-At least I got a bit of extra cash out of the deal. How did things go with Maudie?"

"Good." Sam told her, "I mean, bath time was bit touch and go—"

"Oh, my gosh, did she act up?" Reason cut him off, panicking at little.

"Oh, no," Sam assured her quickly, "It was just a tight fit and we wound up having to use the shower. Also, I think I should problem tell you, ah, Maudie had stomach bug. Hannah, took care of it don't worry, and after everything was find.

Reason could he cheeks getting hot. "Oh my gosh, Sam, I'm so sorry, if I knew—"

"It's alright, alright." Sam cut her off, "We handled it. She's fine now."

"Oh, thank God," Reason breathed, shutting her eyes as she did so, "Again thanks for doing this…"

"No, trouble at all." Sam told her, then realizing Reason got oddly quite glanced over at her and found she had fallen asleep. Deciding to let her sleep for now, he just kept driving.


	31. Working Girl

"I think I need to be getting this one home." Reason said a few weeks later, gathering up the last of Maudie's lose toys with Serena Joy.

"Sorry, we can't stay longer but those cakes and pies don't bake themselves, plus in my infinite wisdom I let Jerry rope me into making a chocolate doberge for his nephew's birthday, so—" Serena Joy added. They had stayed about an hour, talking with Sam and Hannah and giving the children more time to play together.

Hannah looked to Sam for clarification on what the waitress was talking about. "I'm as lost as you are." He told her.

"It's a cake made of six to nine thing layers of sponge cake sandwiched with custard or creamy filling then covered with rich frosting." Serena Joy, explained, "It's like, the mandatory birthday cake in New Orleans, don't ask me why they want that since they don't hail from there, but the half and half version take me, like, a full day and requires every bowl in my kitchen. Thankfully this is only one flavor, thought that is still a task, just less so. It's chocolate by the way."

"Well, ah, good luck with that." Sam said, not knowing how else to respond to the trivia, "See you guys tomorrow."

"Thank you," Reason replied, "You, too." Then she called out to her daughter, "Maudie, give everybody love, we have to go."

"You know," Sam said later, cutting up potatoes to go in a chicken and sausage casserole, "The boys' birthday is coming up, maybe we, could, a, hire her to make one of those dobarge cake things."

"I thought we agreed we weren't going to go overboard." Hannah responded, her eyes going to the boys to make sure they weren't paying attention. They had decided on some family, presents, and a cake and that was it for now.

"Technically a cake _is_ what we agreed to." Sam pointed out.

"Still, asking a friend to do it…" Hannah began, "Doesn't that seem a bit like taking advantage of her?"

"Not if we offer cash." Sam reasoned.

"But do we actually _have_ the cash?" Hannah countered, "We can't do the credit card scam with her numerous practical and ethical reason I shouldn't have to explain to you."

"You don't." Sam assured her, "There's enough in the can right now that we could theodicy do it."

The can Sam was referring to was a coffee can they had started keeping cash they had accumulated for various expenses, usually by hustling pool at area bars, but a some from various temporary gigs, including a stent as one of Santa's elves at the mall.

Hannah sifted somewhat unfortunately, as the can brought something to mind, she had been trying not to think about.

Sam, however, caught the movement out the corner of his eye as he put the potatoes into the pan and moved on the sausage. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Hannah froze, her eyes going around the room.

"You know you can tell me." Sam encouraged her.

After glancing about the boys, who were innocently playing with their train, she looked to Sam. "Not here. After the boys are asleep."

A few hours later, after the boys were safely tucked into bed, Sam and Hannah sat down at the table with two cups of reheated coffee, as was quickly becoming the custom with potentially difficult conversations.  
"Are you sure what we do is right?" Hannah came out with finally, circling the brim of her cup, as was quickly becoming a nervous tick of hers.

"You're going to half to be more specific." Sam told her, as with a statement like that she could be referring to any number of things in their lives, including the kids.

"The credit card scams, the hustling!" Hannah elaborated, "It's just so—dishonest. Is this really an example we want to set for the children? For the record, I'm including myself in this as well." Hannah had helped in some of Sam's more elaborate hustles with varying results and was still using her vessel's credit cards, which were taken out in six different names, at least one which was a character from a children's book. Fortunately, the cashier had laughed it off as coincidence. It had helped that Hannah had no idea who Kit Snicket was.

"I know, but I don't know what to do about it." Sam replied, "I've tried to get a more permanent job, but a sketchy job history, and no references apparently isn't much of a selling point. Plus, I've still got some—extra circulars." Though if Sam was being honest, he hadn't hunted much lately, usually only when a hunter called him from help.

Just then, as if on cue, the phone rang.

"It's just, there's got to be something we can do or I can do, or someone can do!" Hannah lamented a few days later, sitting a park bench with Reason and Serena Joy. Sam was out of town helping Jody with a vampire problem, and the women had decided to take the kids to the park when they were doing the switch off.

"Have you considered trying to find something?" Reason suggested, "Or would—well, you know, cause an issue."

"Well, I still have certain—duties that admittedly I've been slacking on that I need to attend to." Hannah admitted, "Plus, someone still needs to take care of the boys." After a beat she murmured, "Also, there's chance that I might be wanted by the law."

Just then Maudie fell from the latter she was trying to climb, and started crying. Reason sprung up and ran to her.

That was when Serena Joy leaned over and said, "Hey, I might have a to your problem. You remember Jerry, the cook who usually works the day shift, the one I made the doberge for?"

"Uh-huh." Hannah confirmed, nodding.

"Well, Jerry has this cusion back in Newark, Roxanne." Serena Joy explained, "Now, in the 90s Roxanne worked at this day care and one day this three-year-old who's mom was there every day at five on the dot, and one day's she's late and you know, even though kids that young can't really tell time they know if their parents come after nap time, snack time, exedra, and eventually this kid is bawling and she's trying to sooth him when the mum burst in and she runs to him and she's apologizing and they sit until the window seat until he clams down. That stuck with Roxanne and she decided that if she was able, she would stay home with her kids at least until they got into school. That is not to disparage working moms, because this was back when cell phones weren't nearly as common and she likely didn't have any way to contact the daycare to have them tell him she was coming, and sometimes for finical reasons staying home isn't an option, like with Reason, she's the only…"

"I get the point." Hannah cut her off.

"Alright, so Roxanne has a baby and she stays home as planned, and her husband makes pretty good dough, still, babies are expensive as you may have noticed so money a little a tight so, Roxanne comes across this cosmetics company called Nature's Bounty Cosmetics, it's sort of like _Avon,_ only organic and with less range of products. She's able to make her own hours, a little door to door, does a couple of events a month, the company takes a percentage of every sale, they're not like rich or anything, but it does give them a bit more money to move around."

"And you think I could do that?" Hannah asked, making sure she understood where the conversation was going.

"It's worth a shot." Serena Joy reasoned with a shrug.

"How would I even start?" Hannah asked, considered, but at the same feeling overwhelmed by it. She didn't know how to sell anything, she didn't who to sell to, and she wasn't sure how it would work.

Serena Joy smiled. "First we get the number."

Just then Reason came back over. "Okay, scrape bandaged and kissed, she's good. What'd I miss?"

When Sam got back from Hibbing, he was greeted by a series of boxes on the map table, one of which Dean was sitting on top of. "Ah, hey, buddy, watcha doing?" Sam asked walking over to the table.

"Helpin' Mommy double check invenatory." Dean answered stumbling over the word 'inventory', adding extra vowels.

"I see," Sam responded dubiously, "Ah, Hannah, why is there inventory? And what is it for?"

Hannah looked up from a box of Black Soap. "Oh, I didn't get a chance to tell you on the phone. I, ah, got a part time job."

And so, Hannah explained everything was that had transpired while he gone. Perhaps understandably, he had few questions.

"Don't these things tend to pay on commission?" Was his first question.

"Not this company." Hannah answered, "It's an even split. They get half of anything I sell and I get half."

"And how exactly are you planning on selling these?" Sam asked, not wanting to disparage her earnest attempt, just—concerned she didn't know what she was getting herself into.

"Reason and Serena Joy are helping to set a demonstration with some of their other coworkers, and I was hoping to start selling door to door in the next couple days." Hannah informed him, "By the way, I'm going to need you to the watch the boys that day."

"Okay." Sam agreed, picking up a jar of anti-wrinkle cream and looking at, uneased by murky reddish color, "Ah, Hannah, why is this red?"

"That's probably the rooibos tea." Hannah guessed, "It helps with dry skin and wrinkles, or something. I think it's in a few other products as well."

And so, the next day, with a box of each product in the back and front of the car, armed with a satchel Sam loaned her to put the samples in and a gun he insisted she put in the glovebox, 'just in case', Hannah set out to began selling her wares with varying amounts of success.

One thing she discovered early on is that people are not simply home during the day. It took her an hour to just find anyone, and in that she got out of the car and was heading towards the door, a woman burst through it. She was dressed in a business dress suit with a black high heel on one foot, and red high heel on the other and was rushing toward her car.

"Ah, excuse me, miss—" Hannah began.

"Sorry, no time!" The woman shouted back, opening the door, "Late, late, late! Just whatever you need, come back later, okay!"

"Okay," Hannah responded softly as the woman pulled out of her drive, driving like a maniac. After making note of the address, she went back to the car.

Then there were the 'No soliciting' signs.

She found that out the hard way when, after knocking on the door only to be opened by an older, gray-haired, hunched over men with a scowl on his face. "Can't you read the sign?" He growled at her before she could even get anything out, pointing at the large sign in question, reading the all capped message aloud, "No solic-it-ing. I know who I'm voting for, I've found Jesus, unless you are selling thin mints, which you seem a little old for that GO AWAY!"

Hannah step back a few feet. "I-I'm sorry." She stammered, "I didn't—"

"Didn't know what it meant?!" The man cut her off harshly, "Go on, get!"

Hannah didn't have to be told a third time. She fled the property, running back to her car. She got in, took a deep breath, and drove off.

However, her quest wasn't completely fruitless either.

After the incident with the old man, she drove around for a bit, starting to get discouraged. However, she eventually stopped at one more house. The house was a pale, sunny yellow with a reddish tile roof. Yellow Rose bushes decorated the side of the house. It was also surrounded by a chain length fence. However, the gate attached to the fence was currently opened.

Taking a chance, Hannah walked up and was about to ring the doorbell when she saw a small brown placard beside the door a read: NO SOLICITING! WE KNOW WHO WE ARE VOTING FOR, WE HAVE ALREADY FOUND JESUS, UNLESS YOU ARE SELLING THINMINTS, GO AWAY!

Hannah turned around to leave when suddenly there was barking, a small, stout, gray dog whirled ground the side of the house, running up to her and jumping on her legs.

"Buddy!" A man's voice called out, and soon the source of that voice hobbled up the side, an older, heavy set dark-skinned man, hobbling with a sliver and plastic cane with three feet, "Buddy get down!" After a beat, he looked and Hannah and asked, "Do we know you?" He didn't think his memory was going _yet_ but just in case.

"No, I just—stopped here to see if you were interested in something." Hannah replied, "I didn't see the sign until I got up there—"

"Ricky!" A voice called out, "Ricky, who are you talking to?!"

"Some woman selling something!" The man, Ricky apparently, shouted back, then addressed Hannah, "What was what you meant, right?"

Hannah nodded.

Just a then a woman with smooth white hair pulled back in a bun, stuck her head out.

"I'm sorry." Hannah apologized, turning to go. She was so nervous she was clutching her satchel and a bottle of shampoo fell out of her bag.

The woman, who still had excellent eyesight, saw the label and asked, "Is that Nature's Bounty?"

Hannah, who had just picked up the shampoo, froze a moment. "You know about it?"

"Our oldest daughter Rose is crazy about the stuff." The woman explained, "Maybe I should see what all the fuss is about." Then she stepped back, gesturing for Hannah to come inside.

"Are you—" Hannah began, wanting to make sure she was understanding correctly.

"The 'no soliciting' sign is more of a guideline than straight jacket." The woman responded, "Now come dear." As Hannah walked back, the woman continued, "I'm Lucinda, and you've already met Ricky and Buddy. Don't worry, he just thinks anyone who comes to our house is here to see him. And yes, we know."

"Know what?" Hannah asked, stepping into the living room.

"I'm just use to everyone we meet cracking some sort of _I Love Lucy,_ joke." Lucinda explained.

And so, Hannah went through all the Nature's Bounty products with Lucinda.

"In addition to the hygiene products and toners, we have a series of creams for various issues." Hannah was saying, pulling out an opaque white bottle with a label decorated with a vine and poured out a dark purple substance, "This lotion uses daffodils, red grapes, shea butter rooibos tea and several oils to make your skin smooth and visibly brighter. "Holding out the lotion on her hand, she added, "May I?"

"Sure." Lucinda replied, holding out her hand. As she rubbed it in, she asked, "What kind of oils?"

"Kukui oil, rose oil, and olive oil." Hannah answered.

"Olive oil?" Lucinda repeated, "Like I use in cooking?"

"Yes, ma'am." Hannah confirmed, nodding. She went for a jar of pale of pale, solid-looking cream. "The face cream has a lot of the same ingredients as the lotion because their properties work for the same purposes, but it also includes lemon juice and orange essence which can brighten one's complexion…"

By the time she left the house, Hannah had sold Lucy a bottle of lotion and jar of anti-wrinkle cream, and gave her, her number if she wanted more when she ran out.

After that Hannah's luck seemed to turn around a bit. She made a few more sails, not as many as she had hoped and not enough to make a dent in her boxes, but still, it was something.

However, soon, Hannah was lost, in part of town a town she had never been in before, with streets that ended in large circles. She pulled over to the side of the circle and walked up to the two-story red brick house.

Inside, Lyla Knight, was sitting on the floor tickling her baby's stomach when she the doorbell ring. "S-Stay here, s-s-sweetie." She said, getting up. She walked through the door and looked in the peephole and saw a woman, that while she didn't know, she was surprised she recognized.

Hannah stood outside, as the door opened, revealing a pale-skinned young woman with long dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes widened in surprised. "Oh." She said, "I-It's y-you."

It took a moment, but Hannah recognized the sutter. "You played Mary at the church." After a beat she realized there were at of people there last night so she elaborated. "I was—"

"At t-the n-nativity last m-month, I k-know." Lyla finished for her, "Y-your husband s-showed up w-with a w-w-woman in labor w-ho g-gave birth in t-the p-pastor's office. I-it's -the s-sort of -thing one r-remembers."

"Right." Hannah responded, deciding not to correct the woman on her relationship with Sam right then, "Um, would you be interested in learning about the Nature's Bounty line of beauty products?"

Lyla was silent for a moment, thinking about to best handle the situation. "C-Can I s-see a b-bottle or a jar or s-something?" She requested at last. _Something that lets me know this isn't some sort of scam to get into the house?_

"Sure." Hannah replied, getting what was going on, "Just let me get them out. I'm going to go into my satchel, okay?"

Lyle nodded her consent as Hannah pulled back the flap of the satchel revealing several jars and bottles. She took out the shampoo bottle and began the sepal, "Nature's Bounty was founded by two sisters' in New York state, based on the belief, that the best beauty treatments could be found in nature. Using scientifically proven ingredients, we have created a completely organic line of hygiene and beauty products, started with our shampoo." She held up the bottle for Lyla to see. "Built from a base of our Black Soap, this lotion uses ingredients like rosemary and coconut oil and milk to make your hair shiny and strong. And it smells great to." She opened up the bottle and held it out to Lyla.

Lyla apprehensively took the bottle and sniffed it. It _did_ smell nice. She could definitely smell the coconut in there, but there was something else sweet in there as well. "I-Is that h-hibiscus?"

"Yes." Hannah answered, getting slightly alarmed, as she realized she forgot to give the allergy warning she was supposing to say, before people smelled or touched anything. "You're not allergic, are you?"

"N-no." Lyla assured her quickly, "I w-was j-just asking." Her eyes went back to the living room, a tuxedo cat had strutted into the room, and, deciding the small human needed a bath, started licking her head.

"T-this s-seems like i-it could t-take a minute, w-why don't y-you come i-inside?" Lyla suggested, stepping back.

After ushering Hannah inside and shutting the door, Lyla hurried over Hope and picked her up, which the cat protested with a series of meows.

"Little s-sister can have a b-bath l-later." Lyla told the cat before sitting down on the couch, gesturing to Hannah to sit in the chair across from the coffee table.

"You have a lovely home." Hannah complimented, sitting down, "And if you don't mind me saying so, a beautiful child."

"T-thank y-you." Lyla replied, "Y-your boys w-were absolutely gorgeous t-too. I-is i-it alright if I ask how old t-they are?"

"Certainly." Hannah assured her, "They're two, but, ah, they're actually be two next week."

And so, the two women chatted a while before Hannah got back down to buniess.

"D-do y-y-you have anything t-that w-works on s-s-stretch marks?" Lyla asked as Hannah went through everything.

"Stretch marks?" Hannah repeated, having no idea what the other woman was talking about.

"Y-you know." Lyla responded, pulling up her shirt, revealing faded reddish lines going up her body.

Hannah put a hand over her mouth. Quickly removing it, not wanting to insult Lyla. "There is something I think might work for that." She pulled out a bottle of reddish liquid, "It's a mix of rice water and different oils that are supposed to fade scars. Also, roses, you're not allergic to roses, are you?"

"N-no." Lyla assured her, eying the bottle, "H-how much?"

"Five dollars." Hannah answered, "I know it's a little steep—"

"I-It's w-worth t-t-trying." Lyla replied, "Just let me g-go g-get my p-purse."

Hannah nodded as Lyla slipped off into the kitchen, still carrying Hope. Looking around as the cat rubbed against her legs, her went around the room, landing on a half-table by the door. Above the table was a picture of a tan plain landscape, where several Africa-based plains animals were standing. Below the picture on the half-table were a set of paper figures, each coinciding with the placement of an animal in the painting.

"I-is c-cash okay?" Lyla asked, walking back into the room with Hope in one hand, a black wallet in the other.

"Yes." Hannah confirmed. Taking the offered money and making sure everything was in order, she asked, "If you don't mind, I'm curious about the display by your door…"

"T-that's P-Phil's hobby." Lyla explained, "H-he did an art course f-for t-those elective r-requirements med s-s-student have now t-to develop empathy. He s-says t-that's t-the only part he w-was any g-good at." Looking down at Hope she added, "M-made Hope a m-mobile out of c-cranes."

"It sounds lovely." Hannah commented, handing her the recent and another bottle of the skin lightener she happened to have on hand. "I don't know if this is something but, ah, I'm having a demonstration this Saturday over at Serena Joy Johnson's apartment. I don't know if you know her or not."

"I could t-try." Lyla said, "W-when is i-it?"

The day of the party found Reason, Serena Joy, the rest of the waitresses from the dinner, plus Lyla and Eliza Jane her and Serena Joy's mother, Jody, who Sam had invited, Alex, and Donna, another sheriff Jody had met on the case and apparently Sam knew from another case who they had invited as well, all crammed on Serena Joy's two floral-patterned love seats, and few chairs that had been set up to comate the large amount of people. Sam and in the kitchen helping Hannah with everything while the boys went back and forth between trying to help their parents and watching Hope (Phil had planned on staying with her, but had a patient go into labor unexpectant. After some deliberation Lyla decided to come anyway and just bring the baby). She stood in front of everyone, Hannah wished maybe they had started with smaller crowd. As she finished with the shampoo, she glanced to Sam, who gave her a thumbs up.

"And we also have several soaps." She continued, hopping she didn't look as nervous as felt, "Our most popular soap is Black Soap—"

Donna raised her hand. "What's that?"

"Its soap made with the ashes from burned plantain skins, palm leaves and coco pods, all of which have natural moisturizers, making it very helpful to skin." Hannah explained, "But we also have soap for sensitive skin, which only contains about three ingredients…"

Hannah's delivery was somewhat wooden at times, but she managed to keep everyone's attention she displayed the products, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves as they asked questions, ate, talked and try samples of the products.

Serena Joy laughed at Eliza Jane's whose face was covered in pumpkin mask, "You look like a pie."

"Nice." Eliza Jane snarked.

On her mother's lap, Maudie put her two fingers in the face cream, aiming for her month.

"No, you don't eat it." Reason laughed, helping her daughter apply it to her face since she had already got it out of the jar.

Meanwhile, Dean was crouching in front of the green and black baby Stoller, having a staring contest with Hope, who was staring back at him. "Can I'se hold her?" He asked suddenly.

"I-If y-your Mom and D-dad s-says i-it's okay." Lyla answered.

Dean looked to Hannah, who was currently exchanging a few jars of cream for money. Hannah exchanged glances with Sam who said, "Just be careful, bud."

After some rearranging so that Lyla and Dean were on one of the loveseats together, and Lyla picked Hope up and carefully handed Hope over to Dean. "C-careful. W-watch t-the head."

That was when Castiel whispered to Sam, just loud enough for everyone to hear and asked, "Daddy, why does she talk funny?"

Sam's heart plummeted and he visibly blanched. The one time Cas speaks up and he asks _that_?!

"I-It's okay." Lyla assured him, "He's not t-he f-first little kid t-to s-say t-the darnest t-thing." Sometimes, her speech impediment still bothered her, for a long time she built her life around talking as little as possible, but she had made her peace it with it. Yeah, she had a speech impediment but so did Marilyn Monroe, and Winston Churchill, and possibly Moses. Besides, Cas was two. He didn't have concept of things you should and shouldn't say out loud yet. After a beat, trying to lighten the mood she quipped, "Y-you s-should've heard me b-before h-half a l-lifetime of t-therapy."

It took a moment for them to realize what she was trying to do, then everyone exchanged somewhat awkward smiles.

By the end of the party Hannah had sold four bottles of shampoo, two bottles of conditioner, four bottles of the combined shampoo and conditioner, three bottles of green tea toner, three bottles of cranberry toner, five bottles of lotion, three jars of face cream, two jars of anti-acne cream, four bars of black soap, four bars of soap for dry skin, two bottles of skin lightener, one jar of anti-wrinkle cream.

"I can't believe we actually broke even." Hannah said, counting out their half of the cash later, putting it in the can.

"You did good." Sam said, standing at the counter beside her.

Hannah turned to face him. "Thanks for your help with demonstration."

"It was the least I could do." Sam replied, "And, ah, speaking of work, I got some good news."

"What is it?" Hannah asked.

"I met this kid from the next town over who set me up on his dad's farm." Sam explained, "Apparently he needs extra this spring. Actually, offering pretty good money. In the meantime, there's a dog walker position open with this local pet sitting service. Apparently, they usually take high schoolers or college kids, but they figured toddler wrangling could apply to this. It's not much, but it's something." Sam couldn't believe he was taking dog walking jobs like some sort of over grown teenager, and he wasn't going to make as much money as he hustling, but this would work until he came up with another plan."

Hannah's chest did something she wasn't sure it was supposing to do. "Sam, you didn't have to…"

"I wanted to." Sam told her, putting his arms around her waist in an almost imitate gesture, "You had no idea what you were doing, I mean, there were so, so many ways this could have backfired, but you—you wanted to set an example for the boys, so you pushed on anyway." After a beat he quipped, smiling, "I guess they're not the only you set a good example for."


	32. Three

It was the middle of the day when Sam pulled up to the graveyard. Taking a deep breath and grabbing the bouquet of lilies, he got out of the car and began the trek to his destination. He knew exactly where he was going and soon found a granite headstone with the picture of young woman on it.

"Hey, Jess," He said, sitting the lilies down in front of the tombstone, "Bet you're surfside to see here a day early, right?" Despite feeling compelled to come here every year, he always barely made it, usually because he and Dean were halfway across the country, one year he was actually a day late. "But, ah, there have seem, um, developments since the last time I was here…"

And so, Sam explained everything that happened.

"We got a chance to get to get it right this time." Sam finished, "And birthdays, those are important when you're a kid, and one of those things that Dean didn't get. I mean, one-year Dean actually forgot his own birthday. I mean, he was an adult, and birthdays get less important when you're an adult, but still…." He paused for moment, signed then went on, "I have to be there for them. _All_ there. And to do that, I have to get right now." After a beat he added, "Early happy birthday, babe."

Meanwhile, their father's departure so close to their birthday, was making the boys rather nervous.

"When's Daddy coming home?" Dean asked, sitting with Cas and Hannah.

"He said he would be back some time tonight." Hannah assured him, "In plenty of time for your birthday. He just had something he needed to do."

"What did he need to do?" Cas spoke up.

Hannah froze for a minute. Before Sam left, they had discussed exactly what to tell the children, should they ask, but suddenly she was blanking. At last she said, "Daddy, he had a friend, who, ah, has the same birthday as you, and he wanted to go see her now so he could be with you tomorrow."

"She can come here." Dean suggested.

Hannah froze again for a moment. Fortunately, they had planned for this too. "That won't work honey. You see, sometimes people get hurt, really bad. So bad that they can't get better, so they go to Heaven so they don't have to hurt anymore. But the thing, is they have to stay there. They can't come back."

Both boys casted their eyes down sadly. "Is that where Daddy went?"

"Well, humans who aren't hurt can't go to Heaven, sweetie." Hannah explained, "But sometimes, when people are sad because they miss someone, they build something that reminds them of that person. That's where Daddy went. You see, thinking about her makes him sad sometimes, and he wanted to make sure he wasn't sad on your birthday."

"We could have it on another day." Cas suggested, thinking that would help, "So Daddy could be sad."

"That's not how it works, little one." Hannah told him before pulling him into an embrace, "But that was so sweet of you."

The next morning, the boys got a birthday surprise when they come.

"Dean, time to wake up." Sam said, prodding Dean awake.

Dean sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes and found his father starring down at him.

"Daddy!" He exclaimed, jumping up and wrapping his arms around Sam's neck, "You'se back!"

Sam couldn't help but laugh. "Happy birthday, bud."

"I free!" Dean declared holding up four fingers.

"That's right, bud." Sam replied, gently bending one of Dean's fingers down, "But _that's how_ you make three. Now, come on, let's help Mommy wake Cas."

"Hannah was already prodding at Castiel," Cas, sweetie, it's time to wake up now."

"Cas!" Dean called out, "You're free!"

Cas got out of bed, giving his feathers a little flap. "Huh?"

"It's your and Dean's birthday, sweetie." Hannah explained.

"Daddy's back!" Dean happily exclaimed, jumping and pointing to Sam.

Cas lept and hugged him. "You okay now?"

Sam's heart broke when he said that. They must have asked about where he was. "Yeah, Daddy's okay now. Hey, why don't you guys get dressed while Daddy makes breakfast, okay?"

The boys proceeded to get dress or try to at least. "Mommy help!" Dean requested frustrated by the buttons on his jeans. Hannah turned around from where she was adjusting Cas' clothes and helped Dean with the buttons. "I free." Dean pouted.

"It's okay, little one. Mommy's few melinia old and still can't button her own clothes most of the time." She poked his nose to punctuate the sentence.

Dean giggled. "Mommy silly."

"Oh, am I?" Hannah smiled, eying her other son, "Cas, what do you think?"

"Mommy silly." Cas repeated nodded.

"Oh, yeah?" Hannah asked, tickling him lightly.

Cas responded, by just giggling and giggling until Hannah picked him, walking out pf the room with Dean behind them.

When they got to the kitchen, they found a growing stack of pancakes on the counter next to Sam, who was flipping a final one.

"Sam, what is all this?" Hannah asked.

"I found some mix in the cabinet so I made pancakes." Sam explained.

"Pancakes!" Dean exclaimed, running to stack while Cas silent struggled to get down. Hannah sat him down and he towards his brother.

After breakfast, the adults kept the kids busy for a while, playing with them, then let them take a slightly early nap while they made time to make preparations for the party, which mainly consisted of making lunch, taking out plates and fork and waiting for the guests at the door.

Hannah got the door, ushering Reason, Maudie, and Serena Joy, who had covered plate. "Where do you want me to put this?" She asked.

"In kitchen, come on, I'll show you were it is." Hannah told her, leading the way.

Hannah head them to kitchen when Sam had just finished cooking. "Just set it on the counter." She instructed, "As the young woman did so, Hannah continued, "Thank you so much for doing this."

"And thanks for the fifty bucks for it." Serena Joy said, taking it down, "Really I would have taken less for it."

"All night and every bowel in your kitchen." Hannah reminded her.

"True." Serena Joy responded, "Hey, is it okay if ask something?"

"What is it you want to ask?" Hannah questioned.

"Is today—actually their birthday?" Serena Joy asked, her curiosity overtaking her.

"It's Dean's birthday." Hannah conformed, "He was born January 24th, 1979. As for Cas, well, your guess is as good as mine. We weren't exactly going by this calendar when he was made. But since they're twins, at least that's what we're saying—Cas gets the same birthday."

"And Cas, when he was three last time, was he, you know, like this?" Serena Joy continued.

"No." Hannah admitted," I explained this to Sam and Reason, after the—incident—angels, we have about a week but after that we don't age."

"Well, I guess that explains what Sam meant by 'didn't have a childhood at all'." Serena Joy surmised.

Hannah nodded.

Meanwhile, Sam showed Reason where to set the growing pile of presents while Maudie ran off to the find the birthdays boys.

"What is this?" Reason asked, picking up a little pale clay plate with a little village in the center of it, that on the rid read, _Moldovia._

"An, ah, hunter associate of mine sent it, along with a bag of some sort of Asian candy." Sam explained, "Just—showed up in the mail this morning. Which is actually kind of odd because I never told her when they're birthday was. I mean, I guess she could've sent them just cause and the timing's a coincidence."

"Yeah, maybe." Reason agreed, setting two wrapped bundles next to Jody and Alex's gifts. (There had been emergency at the police station preventing them from making it so they sent there's by express mail.)

"Happy birthday!" Maudie squealed at the boys, hugging each of them.

"What do you say, guys?" Sam asked, reminding them of their manners.

"Fank you." Cas was the first to say.

"Fank you." Dean repeated.

"So, how's the new job going?" Reason asked as they herded everyone into the kitchen.

"Ah, good, actually." Sam replied, "Not the most stimulating things ever, and one dog keep trying to bite me, but, hey, it pays."

"That's the spirit." Reason told him. After a beat, she added, "Ah, just a heads up, Serena Joy got the boys numb chucks."

"Numb chucks?" Sam repeated, worried.

"Well, plastic numb chucks." Reason repeated, "And apparently Rawls helped pick them out, so, please, for my sake, don't chuck them." After a beat she changed the subject slightly, "Did you know those two are dating?"

Soon everyone congregated in the kitchen. Sam helped Dean with his plate and Hannah helped Cas with his, putting small portion of whatever they pointed out on the plates. The twins spent them meal flaked by their parents while everyone would up sharing their favorite stories, which a surprising number of them had been accumulated over what seemed like such a sort time spend sometimes. A particular favorite was Cas and the sheep. Catching on to what they were talking about somewhat, he happy proclaimed once again, that sheep ate plants.

After they had things reasonably put away-the goal was to do as they went along so there wasn't so much to do while everyone was tired—Hannah asked the boys, "Which do you want to do first, little ones, cake or presents?"

"Cake!" Cas exclaimed at the same time Dean answered with "Presents!" Then they turned in looked at the other, almost like they were in disbelief, which in spite of the tantrum this could be leading to for one of them, caused the adults to laugh because it was just too cute.

"I have an idea how we can settle this guy." Sam said, crouching down to their level, "Daddy's gonna teach you a little game called 'rock paper scissors' and we'll do whatever whoever wins said."

The boys picked up the game pretty quickly, thought Dean proved no more successful at it as a toddler then he did as an adult. Pouted a little, but that stopped as soon as he actually saw the cake.

"Sam, do I need to get the camera? " Hannah offered, while they impaled a 3-shaped candle though the middle line between the brown and yellow sides of the cake.

"I got it." Serena Joy said, picking up Sam's phone, "I'm assuming you got a camera on this thing?"

Once the candle was lit and the lights was dimed, Hannah and Sam brought the cake to the boys while everyone sang: _"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Dean and Cas. Happy birthday to you."_

Dean and Castiel pursed their lips and took several attempts. It took two tries but eventually they blew out the candle. Sam took out the candle while Hannah cut the cake.

When cutting a half and half doberge, the goal is usually to get an equal amount if both flavors in one piece, however, no one in the room, certainly not the small children waiting on the cake, had the patience nor the skill for that, so Hannah just cut chocolate slices and lemon slices and everyone took what they wanted, though there were a few pieces that wound up with both flavors. Dean got a chocolate piece and Cas decided on lemon, both of which they tried to start eating with their hands. Cas was rather bemused by his frost-covered hand, which he wound up wiping on his parents as Serena Joy paused to take a picture.

When they clean up from the cake, what few left overs there were put up, and all three toddlers were washed off, it was time for presents.

Dean and Castiel sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the table, while Sam handed present to Hannah, who handed it down to them. "Okay," He said, grabbing a square box, "This one's from Mommy and Daddy."

They took the box from Hannah and tried to rip it open, but had some trouble. "Mommy, Daddy, help!" Dean called out, still struggling with the wrapping.

Hannah leaned down and gave the wrapping a pull. That was enough to get it to slide off, revealing a box with a picture of blocks on them.

"What these say?" Cas asked, pointing to the lettering.

"That's the periodic tablet of elements, buddy." Sam explained.

"The what?" Dean spoke up.

Hannah shot Sam a look as if to say, _I told you they were two young to understand._

Sam shrugged, giving Hannah a look as if to say, _Okay, you were right._ Then she told the boys, "You'll fake me when you get to sixth grade."

When the gifts were unwrapped and each present was paid its proper due, everyone thanked, Dean sat with playing with Curious George jack-in-the-box Jody had sent along with a set of the books, plastic numb chucks the boys were probably two little for in his lap, while Cas was stroking the blue and purple beanie baby he had claimed as his, thought Dean was more than happy to claim the companying owl dyed with multiple neon colors. He was also undoing the snowmen nesting dolls Garth had sent, along with a couple of tops. Looking up, he asked, "Maudie play?"

"Go on, honey." Reason urged, gently pushing the Maudie, who had stayed with her mother for this portion of the event.

The child needed very little prompting to join her friends, running over to Cas and beginning to play with him, Dean soon joining them.

"Hey, I know it's none of my business, but is, she, ah, okay, with all this?" Sam asked in a low voice. He was somewhat worried since a toddler thinking was still concrete, Maudie might get jealous or otherwise upset by the whole thing.

"No, I was able to explain to her that she'll get presents come March just like Cas and Dean are getting now." Reason explained, then looking down murmured, "And I might have bought her cookies" She was somewhat embarrassed that she had done that, wondering if it was bad parenting. It certainly set a questionable precedent.

"Hey, _we_ might be pulling that in a couple of months." Sam assured, realizing she was feeling like a less than stellar parent at the moment.

Glancing up she asked, "Hey, ah, you need some help cleaning up the paper?"

"Oh, yes, that would be great." Sam answered.

Later on, the evening, after Serena Joy had taken Reason and a half-asleep herself Maudie home, the boys wound up taking inpareu naps on their parent's laps.

"Maybe we should wake them up." Hannah suggested, rubbing small circles on Cas' wings, "Otherwise they're not going to sleep tonight."

"Is that really what you want to do?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No." Hannah admitted. They just so peaceful she hated to disturb them. "I can't believe they're already three."

"Me, neither." Sam agreed, "I mean, they turned two in what, September?" After a beat he added, "You know what I mean."

"I do." Hannah responded, "Maybe we should have changed the date."

"Why add another layer to everything?" Sam pointed out, as that was the conclusion when they had come to this conclusion a few months before. "Also, their development matches up."

Hannah was silent for a moment, still rubbing Cas' wings. "Next thing you know they'll be four." She said finally, "Then five, and that means they'll be ready for school, then they'll be six and seven and eight and nine and ten and…they're going to grow up." The very idea took her breath away.

Sam felt the same way. But he said, "I'm sure it's not going to happen as fast as sounds. And even if it does, all we can do is enjoy this age while we can."

"I hope you're right." Hannah replied. Looking down at Cas she wondered aloud. "What will he even be when he grows up?"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, not sure what she was talking about, and honestly kind of worried by the question.

"Dean's human." Hannah elaborated, "We know how he's going to develop physically, we have an idea of what to expect, with Castiel…nothing like this had happened before, we're basically going in blind. We don't even know what's going to happen with his wings."

Sam was silent for a moment, looking at their winged child. He'd be lying if said he hadn't thought about it as well. In fact, he had spent a lot of time worried about the wings. What if they remained solid for the rest of his life? Sure, they could hide them for now, but what they got bigger? What sort of quality of life was he going to have? And of course God only knew what was going to happen with his other angelic powers, which there hadn't been much sign of since the window incident. At last he just said, "It scares me, too, when I think about it."

Something about someone—Sam, sharing her fears, brought her a little comfort. "We'll deal with it together, right?" She commented, switch hands and taking Sam's hand with her free one. Sam's hands were large, causing some struggle to get her smaller hand around them.

"Yeah." Sam said, wrapping his hand around her offered one, "Together."

Dean, blissfully unaware, rolled over on his father's lap, almost falling in the floor, and forcing Sam to let go of Hannah's hand to use both of his to pull the little guy back to safety.

"You got him?" Hannah asked, reaching out as well to stop the potential fall.

"Yeah." Sam assured her, thought he was clearly a bit spooked himself, "Yeah, yeah, I got him."

Falling back on the couch she let out a relieved sigh. "Sam are you alright with…everything today?"

"Yeah," Sam answered, "Yeah, yeah, all he did was move, but I caught him. Crisis averted."

"That's not what I mean." Hannah told him.

"I know." Sam admitted, "Actually, I'm doing okay, all things considered. _They_ made it okay, in a way." After a beat he asked, "How did they take it?" Hannah had told him she had told them about why he was gone when he got home the night before, but they hadn't discussed it in dept other then cover that the boys were alright at the moment.

"They felt bad for you and you— 'friend'." Hannah answered, "They offered to change their birthday to a different day."

"That's, ah, actually kinda sweet." Sam responded, smiling a little in spite of the turn the conversation had taken.

Just then Dean's eyes fluttered open and he yawned. "What's goin' on?"

"Noting, bud, just go back to sleep." Sam said in a hushed voice.

"Okay." Dean agreed, yawning and closing his eyes.

Sam leaned down and kissed Dean's forehead, whispering, "I love you, bud."


	33. Tiger, Tiger

**AN: Three things:**

 **Sorry this is so late. It wasn't quite ready on time and then I had some other stuff get in the way of my time to write.**

 **This and the next chapter might see a bit random, but I promise you, it's all part of a plan.**

 **Parts of this chapter are a bit experimental so if the experiment fails, please let know and I'll never do it again.**

Sam limped into the door of the bunker, weary, cut up and on edge. A friend had called him asking to look into an animal attack a couple town over since he was closer and Sam was able to get a co-worker to cover his dogs for a couple of days. It should have been a simple enough job. It wasn't.

Hannah turned from where she was pacing and began to walk up to him and he descended the stairs. "Are you alright?" She asked urgently. When he called to tell her, he was on his way home, he didn't really sound right.

"Yeah." Sam breathed, clearly lying through his teeth, "Yeah, I just—I just need to see the boys."

"They can't see you like this." Hannah declared, reaching up and putting a hand to his forehead, healing Sam's various wounds including a rather large-looking one covered with a bandage on his shoulder. "They're this way, they've been waiting for you."

The boys were sitting in fort made of combination of blocks, a blanket and Coat, when their parents entered the room. "Boys," Hannah called out, "Look who's home!"

"Daddy!" Both boys exclaimed, running from the fort and knocking it over in the process, Castiel having the state of mind had grab coat.

Sam knelt down with arms opened wide, catching the twins. "Hey, guys," He greeted them, his voice wavering a little "How ya doing?"

"Good." Dean answered, throwing his arms around Sam's neck.

"We missed you!" Cas explained.

"I missed you, too." Sam replied. Suddenly, before he could stop it, tears were running down his face.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked, noticing the tears.

"Nothing." Sam lied, whipping the tears away as best she could. He couldn't do this. Not in front of them. "Daddy just…really missed you."

A few minutes later, after Sam had forced himself to calm down and spent a little time with them, he was sitting at the kitchen as Hannah put a platter of leftovers in the microwave. She doubted Sam felt like eating the given the state he was in, but the boys still needed food. Setting in for five minutes, she then poured a cup of coffee. "Black?"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks." Sam confirmed, taking the cup.

"Sam, what happened?" Hannah asked, getting right to the point, and coming over with a cup of her own, "You don't get like this from a run of the mill hunt, at least from what I've seen."

Sam sighed. "When I got there the police had cordoned the area off already and I started off with the usual F. B. I stick…."

 **Plover, Kansas**

 **46 Hours Earlier**

"Against Page." Sam told the officer at the police tape, holding up his badge, "I'm here about the body."

"This way." The officer said, taking him to it, "I should warn you, it's not a pretty sight."

When Sam got there, he saw immediately what he was talking about. The body was practically ripped to shears, face obliterated, the right arm ripped from its socket, entrails all over the ground. Couldn't even tell if the body on the ground was that of a man or a woman it was so managed.

"Wow." Sam began, somewhat shocked by the carnage, "You're right, definitely not pretty. This, ah, might seem like an odd question, but did, ah, anybody the vic's heart." He was thinking just from a first glance, a werewolf, or maybe even pack of werewolves all attacking at once for some reason.

"Ah, there's a lot of parts we haven't found." The officer replied.

That was when Sam noticed two people a man and a young woman in different uniforms, on the other side of the scene. "Hey, ah, who are they?" Sam asked, pointing the pair out.

"Animal control." The officer explained, "Since this is almost definitely an animal attack, we called them."

"I'm going to go talk to them." Sam told the officers, thinking they might be hunters.

"Okay, then." The officer responded, slightly surprised, but not thinking much of it as the same time. It made sense that the Agent would want to confer with everyone else. At least to him.

Sam walked up to the pair. "Um," He began, "Agent Page, FBI."

The pair turned around. "Paul Hargrove, Ruby Nix, Animal Control." The man introduced them as the girl, Ruby apparently, extended her hand.

"Please to meet you." Sam replied, taking the hand and shaking t. Ruby was young, in her early twenties, delicate featured with blonde hair in short pigtails. "So, ah, what are we looking at here?"

"To be honest, we have no clue." Ruby admitted, "I mean, there are some big animals around here, but nothing big enough to do…" Ruby trailed off overwhelmed, then gestured to the body, "That."

Sam looked back at the grisly scene. "Have you found anything? Anything that might tell us what this thing was or where it went?"

"Ah, you do know we're animal control, right, not detectives?" Ruby pointed out, "That being said, we've been looking for hair, tracts, any indication of, like you said, what this was, or where it, went, what kind of gear we're gonna need."

"Gear?" Sam repeated.

"You know tranks, riffles, what caliber." Ruby listed off, "This—whatever it is, it's killed someone, we're probably not taking it alive. Even if we do it's going to have be put down afterwards."

"Of course." Sam agreed, starting to think the pair might be legitimate animal control.

"So, ah, what is the FBI doing on this anyway?" Ruby asked, "I mean, I don't mean to be rude, it just seems sorta…."

"Odd?" Paul finished for her.

"Yes, yes, that's the word I was looking for." Ruby confirmed, "Thanks."

"I just—go where they send me." Sam replied.

"Well, I hate to cut this short, but we still have a job to as well." Paul spoke up, "Come on, Rube."

 **Lebanon, Kansas**

 **Present Day**

"I looked around and couldn't find anything." Sam said, "I was about to see if there were any other attacks when…"

 **Plover, Kansas**

 **46 Hours Earlier**

"Hey, guys, we found something!" Ruby's voice called out, just as Sam was about to leave.

Soon everyone, the animal control officers, the police officers, and the esztratz FBI agent were standing around the largest animal print any of them had ever seen.

"What are we looking at here?" The officer who let Sam in asked.

"My guess is some sort of big cat." Paul answered gravely.

"Are big cats even native to this area?" Sam asked in spite of himself.

"No, but it could have escaped from some kind of private zoo." Ruby reasoned, "They're aren't actually laws on the books regulating big ownership in this state."

It took Sam a moment to process that. _I may never let the kids out of the house again._

 **Lebanon, Kansas**

 **Present Day**

"That's when you called me and asked if I could do some research into monsters that were similar to big cats." Hannah guessed.

"Yeah." Sam confirmed, "And about every hunter I know to see if they ever heard of anything like that for good measure."

 **Plover, Kansas**

 **44 Hours Earlier**

"There are a few pagan goddess' associated with cats." Garth was telling him over the phone, "But other than that, all I have a bunch of legends, some here, a lot from other countries, I can't even tell you whether or not they're real."

Sam sitting at the table his motel room. He had made an excuse to leave the search, saying he had to contact superiors about something. So far no one had been able to tell him of anything that would match the prints, but what Garth had just said gave him an idea. "Thanks anyway Garth. Talk to you later."

Tova Abramov was lying on the bottom bunk in an Irish hostel, most of the gunk from the hunt she just finished whipped off her, her wounds tended to, and had just fallen asleep when her American phone started blaring. " _And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free…."_ (Yes, she had phones for every land mass she had contacts in, and they all had song about a country/city/famous landmark as the ringtone.) "No!" She groaned, but picked it up anyway. "Someone better be dead or dying."

"Hello to you, Tova." Sam responded, "I take it I caught you at bad time."

"I just finished gankning a Celtic fertility goddess and fought off a mob of angry cultist who were using said goddess as a family planning service." Tova replied, "Do you realized how pissed people get when derailed their hopes and dreams of having children that were so desperate to fulfill, they were will to practice human sacrifice for it? All I want is a few hours of sleep, before I get out of dodge in case somehow the Brits find out I'm out I'm here. I mean, they mostly leave Ireland alone, but sometimes they get a wild hair and then watch out."

"Ah, Tova, I have no clue what you're talking about." Sam informed her.

"I'll explain later." Tova promised, her voice still laddened with sleep, "I assume this isn't a social call."

"No." Sam confirmed, "I was actually hopping you could tell me about werecats? As in, are they an actual thing?"

And so, Sam explained the situation he currently found himself in to her.

"There are weretigers, but I've never encountered one outside of Asia." Tova told him once he had finished, "And even then, they don't –fully shape shift into a tiger, they're basically werewolves with different shaped mouths. You might be dealing a run of the mill wild animal."

"But how would a wild cat get out here?" Sam questioned.

"People are idiots?" Tova guessed.

Just then Sam's FBI phone rang. "I'm getting another call." Sam told her, "Go get some sleep."

"Thank you." Tova groaned before handing up.

Sam picked up the other phone. "Agent Page?"

"This is Officer Nix." Ruby said, her voice frantic, "We have a 10-91 E, large animal, I didn't get a good look at it, but it was big, it got officer Mannix, everyone got scattered, I lost my radio in the fracas, but I was able to get to the phone. I've never seen anything like this. Send everybody."

"Where are you?" Sam responded urgently.

When Sam arrived at the address Ruby gave him, he found the Ruby locked in an old car, her weapon at the ready. He knocked on the glass, causing her to jump.

"Sorry." Sam said, as she got out of the car.

"Where's your back-up?" Ruby asked, looking around and seeing no one else was there.

"I'll get to that in minute." Sam replied, "Officer Nix, can you tell me what happened here?"

"We had cordoned that area off and divided off into different search partiers." Ruby began, "Me and Paul were with about, three cops, when something comes out of the woods, pouching on of the officers. We all start shooting at it, but it won't go down. In fact, it turned and came at the rest of us. That's when we all got separated and I lost my com. Eventually I found my way here, called you."

Sam went over to his car and opened the trunk.

"What the—" Ruby exclaimed as she watched him pull a riffle from the back.

"Officer Nix, get back and the car, call for back-up." Sam told her, "I'm going to go find this thing." At the point he wasn't sure what was going on, if this creature was supernatural or not, but he knew he had to act.

"You can't go out there by yourself." Ruby said, "This thing took down _at least_ onetrained officer—"

"Which is why I don't want you out there." Sam reasoned.

"Look, I appreciate the concern, but there's a little thing called protocol." Ruby told him, "Protocol which you disregarded by coming here alone, and I wasn't fallowing very closely when I called you for help, but still…"

"Alright." Sam finally relented, "You can come. Just—do what I tell you. Because I'm the senior ranking officer and if I remember correctly that's also protocol."

Ruby nodded her agreement as she called the police station.

Sam followed Ruby's directions arriving back where her group had been attacked, almost immediately being greeted by a police officer's mangled body.

 _Not good._ Sam thought.

"Agent!" Ruby called out, shining her flashlight on another stop off the trail, "I got blood over here!"

Sam walked over to where she was, and saw that, there was trail of blood leading into the woods.

"Behind me." Sam ordered. They followed the trail into the woods for several minutes until it came to a stop and the could hear growling. Sam raised his flashlight to find, raising its own head to look at him, hulking, 500-pound tiger, it's face covered with blood.

"Oh my God." Sam breathed. He really hadn't been expecting this. _Guess that settles whether this is supernatural or not._

Suddenly the creature pounced, apparently two people in one night wasn't enough for it, and suddenly Sam found himself on the ground, claws digging into his shoulder, barely having time to process what was happening.

Thinking fast, if not thinking it all the way through, Ruby fired her own riffle at the creature, aiming for the head but only hitting its ear. It was enough to for the creature to take his attention off of Sam and onto her. The tiger stepped away from Sam and began to circle her.

"Ruby, run." Sam demanded urgently, " _Run!"_

Ruby tried to fire again, only for her gun to jam. Not knowing what else to do, Ruby obeyed, taking off running.

The tiger, forgetting about Sam, or deciding that even able-bodied Ruby was the easier prey, sprung after her.

"No!" Sam shouted, finally managing to get back to his feet and grab the gun.

Ruby ran as fast as she could, not looking behind her. But the tiger was faster. Suddenly she was down on the ground as the beast held her down, biting into her shoulder, causing her to scream in pain.

That was when a barrage of gunfire broke out for several minutes, and at least someone got off a kill shot and the tiger fell to the ground, dead.

The calavery of police and animal control that had arrived stared at the scene before them for a moment in shock. "Where did that even _come from_?" One of the officers asked in stunned hush.

Meanwhile, Sam had arrived back on the scene, and was trying in vain to shove the tiger's body off of Ruby. "Somebody help me here!"

Six of the assembled officers from the police and animal came over to help, while the rest secured the area and another called for paramedics. They finally got the tiger off of Ruby, who was lying prone, her eyes half open and blood pouring out of her and pooling on the ground, but by some miracle she was still breathing, even if her breathing was rather shallow.

Sam fell to the ground, picking her up. "Stay with me." He pleaded urgently, "Stay with me, with me Ruby." It didn't seem to be having any effect. "Come on, you gotta chew me out for not following protocol, right?" She was just a kid. She couldn't die.

"Agent," Ruby began, weakly, "You need to…you need to make sure they fine Paul…. they just—just—"

"They will," Sam cut her off, "I promise."

"Tell my sisters…I…. I…." Ruby continued, struggling for every word.

"You can tell them yourself, okay?" Sam told her, "You're going to be fine." Sam looked up, "Where are paramedics?!"

Paramedics finally arrived and them to the hospital, Sam never leaving Ruby's side, until they forced him out in the ER, and then another doctor insisted on patching up his comparably minor injuries.

Not being able to take it anymore, he went up to the front desk, and held out his badge. "Can someone please tell me what's going on with Officer Nix?" He asked, an edge in his voice.

Before the woman at the front desk could answer, Sam found himself pushed out of the way by two women, both who looked similar to Ruby except one was older and one was younger, maybe in her late teens. "Is Ruby Nix here?" The older of the two asked, breathless, "We got a call from her partner saying she was in the hospital."

Well, at least that meant Paul was alive, and well enough to call someone.

"We're here sisters." The younger girl explained.

"Wait here, I'll get her doctor." The woman at the front desk said.

Sneaking behind a corner, Sam listened as the doctor told Ruby's sister everything that was going on.

"We have her stable." The doctor was saying, "But she's not out of the woods yet. There was a lot of blood loss."

"When will be know for sure?" The older of the two sisters asked.

"We should know in a few hours." The doctor answered, "If she does pull through, she's going to need some serious reconstruction on her shoulder in we might be looking at physical therapy."

"Oh, God." The younger sister moaned.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." The doctor told them, "I'll let you know immediately if there are any developments."

"Thank you." The older sister to the doctor, before he walked away. The younger sister started crying and the older sister, took her in her arms, soothing, "Sssh, sssh."

The two eventually sat down, waiting for any word on their sister's progress. Eventually Sam couldn't help himself. Grabbing a couple of cups of crappy coffee, he approached them. "Hey," He said, tentively, holding out the offered cups, "You looked like you could use these."

The older sister, Aurora, he had gathered, looked up a him a moment, before taking it. "Thanks." She said, "So, ah, where you there when it happened?"

"Yeah, ah, actually." Sam admitted.

"I figured when I saw all the blood." Aurora told him, "Plus, Luna caught you staring over an hour ago."

"I'm sorry." Sam responded, "I just-I couldn't leave without knowing if she was going to pull through."

Everyone was quiet for a minute. "Can you tell us what happened?" Aurora asked finally, "No one will tell us how this happened."

"Well, it's kind of hard to believe." Sam explained, "You know that animal attack last night, right?"

The girls nodded.

"Well, we were both on the case, and it was a tiger." Sam continued, not knowing how else to say it.

"A what?" Luna balked.

"A tiger?" Aurora questioned.

"I know, none of us expected it." Sam replied, "Which is how it got the jump on us." _Well, not the only reason._ Sam rubbed his head in his hands. This was all his fault. He should have seen this wasn't his kind of thing and brought the back-up she asked for!

Just then the doctor came back. "She's awake." He anouched, "She's asking for you. She's also asking for an Agent Page?"

"That's me." Sam said, standing up.

When they got into Ruby's room, she was lying on her back, her entire shoulder covered in bandages, plus the stiches on her face in arm. It was painful just to look at. "Hey guys." She rasped, when she saw them.

Aurora, who had been fairly composed this whole time, now looked like he was about to burst out crying any second. "You have _got_ to get a new job!"

Ruby smiled. "Hello to you, too." Then she began addressing other matters, "Agent Page?"

"Yeah," Sam said softly, walking up to besides, "Officer Ni—Ruby, I'm here."

"Do me a favor and find the idiot who thought a tiger was the same a kitten?" Ruby requested.

"Of course." Sam promised.

 **Lebanon, Kansas**

 **Present Day**

"Turns out the real cops were already on it." Sam said, staring into his cup, "Some lady who had a private zoo in her back-yard with sub-standard containments. Tiger ripped through the screen, got out, the rest is history. She had a lioness, and two jaguars back there, too, only luck they didn't get out." After a long beat he continued, "And she was pissed at the cops for killing the tiger. I mean, two people are dead and girl's going to spend the rest of her life recovering for the injuries and she's more concerned about that. I mean, what sort of mind works that way?"

"That one's a mystery to both of us." Hannah replied. She could see that man's stupidity and inhumanity to man wasn't the only thing brothering Sam. "Sam, you can't blame yourself. No one could have seen that coming."

"Everything was pointing to this being an animal." Sam countered soberly, "I should have called the real police when she called me. And if that tiger hadn't been attacking me, she wouldn't have—"

"She would have still shot at it because it was her job to incapacitate it." Hannah cut him off, standing up walking around to Sam, "Now, yes, maybe you should have called the authorities before you went of there, but the same thing could have happened a thousand different ways if you weren't even there. You cannot control the actions of anyone else, and you are not to blame to what happened." Then, before Sam knew what was happening, Hannah had wrapped her arms around him.

Sam didn't exactly feel better per say, and he still had serious doubts about his part in the whole affair, but suddenly, he felt—lighter. Like he had stones on his chest that somebody just lifted.

Just then, the microwave went _ding!_

"Mommy, does that mean the food's done?!" Dean's voice called out.

Hannah pulled back a little. "I highly doubt you feel like eating, but do you think you can fake it for the boys?"

Sam nodded.

Sam managed to make it through the evening, slapped on a happy face for the boys, played with them after dinner and managed not to break down. He went to bed shortly after they did, falling asleep almost before he hit the bed, he just that exhausted, both physically and emotionally. When she thought he wouldn't sense her coming into the room, Hannah walked in, setting down on the edge of the bed. She felt her hunter needed her to watch over him tonight.


	34. The Red Tent

**AN: 22 pages. That's how long it is. Which is why I'm posting it at eight. I'm so sorry this is even later than last week. I have to stop doing these long runners. But at least I'm clear for Valentine's day, I guess.**

The parking lot in front of the red tent was so crowded, Hannah had to drive around for several minutes before she finally had a parking space. Taking off her locket, she opened and kiss the imagines inside. This trip was for them. She the other angels wouldn't start asking questions. She stuffed it in the glove box, and got out of the car.

She finally had to travel for work, her other work again, and she thought the best place to start would be with Chloe Grace, a faith healer in Illinois that had been healing everything from cold sores to brain cancer. She was almost certain the young woman was really an angel.

As she walked to the tent, she had to walk past a man being accosted by an unkempt woman with her hair in a lose brown ponytail managed with flyaway. "Listen, I don't know what's wrong with you, but go to a real doctor!"

"Look, I already told you—" The man was saying, trying to pull away.

"Excuse me." Hannah called out, approaching the scene, "Is there a problem here?"

The seemingly manic woman turned her attention to Hannah. "Yeah, there's a problem." The woman seethed, pointing to the tent, "Little Miss Sunshine in there's a fraud, who is milking these idiots out of their hard-earned money. Why can't you all—"

"Hey!" A voice called out. Everyone looked up to see two girls in their mid or late teens dressed in military cameo jackets and matching fatigues. They each grabbed the hysterical women by the arms. "That's enough out of you. "The younger of the two, a girl with darker olive skin and long raven black hair said harshly.

"Is this really necessary?" Hannah questioned, concerned for the women.

"Ma'am, this is hardly this woman's first offense." The older of the two girls, who had short curled brow hair explained politely, but urgently, "She is out here nearly every single day harassing our congregation, she actually has at two restraining orders against hospitals that treat people's Chloe Grace has healed." After a beat he addressed the woman, "Come on Mattie." With that they dragged the struggling woman away as she shouted, "Why can't you see it?! Why can't you see it?!"

"Well that—unexpected." The man said, staring as Mattie was dragged away.

"It was." Hannah agreed.

After a beat, the man decided to introduce himself. "I'm Wally, by the way."

"Hannah." She replied, "If you don't mind me making an observation, you don't seem unwell."

"Well, I could make the same observation about you." Wally countered.

"Fair point." Hannah admitted, "I'm just—looking for family that I have reason to believe might be here. I sort of—lost touch with them, so now I don't know where they are."

The pair began to walk into the tent together. "Are they sick?" Wally asked.

"Are who sick?" Hannah responded.

"Your family you're looking for." Wally reminded her.  
"You could say that." Hannah said. Changing the subject, she added, "You never said about you."

"I'm just—trying to figure something out." Wally answered as they sat down in the back.

Hannah wanted to ask what that meant, however before she could an organ started to play, signaling that sermon was about to begin.

A thin, older man dressed in a gray suit stepped up to front of the tent. Turning around he waved, as if asking for someone to join him. Seconds later he was joined by girl in her mid-teens, with long wavy blonder hair that fell down past her shoulders. She was wearing a sleeveless white cotton dress that went down to the ground, but did not cover her feet, which were bare.

"That cannot be comfortable in February." Wally commented to his newfound companion.

Hannah, however, barely heard him, she was so concentrated on the girl, or rather, the energy she was giving off. Angels had certain clairsentience, particularly when it came to their own, but she wasn't seeing what she would usually see when confronted with a fellow angel. But still she could sense… _something_ there, palpable vibrating, as if just beneath the surface.

"I know some of you have heard this story a thousand times before, but you're going to hear it a thousand and one for the benefit of those who don't know." The man of kind of minster it appeared, began. This elicited a chuckle from some in the crowd. "Six months ago, my wife Jolene, "He gestured to woman with graying reddish-brown hair in the front row, "Was deathly ill. Not just ill, it was esophageal cancer. Every night, we were on our knees praying for a miracle. As time went on, and none of the treatments were working, in fact, the cancer was spreading, I'm not ashamed to admit I starting doing the 'please God take me instead' thing. Then, when Jolene was moved in hospice, I can't speak for everyone else but I just started praying that it would be quick. That was when God brought this beautiful angel into our lives." He was looking at Chole Grace now with what almost seemed like reverence. Chloe Grace, for her part, seemed a little embarrassed by all the attention. "She just walked into Jolene's room one day and put hands on her, didn't say a word, just put her hands on her for few seconds then left. Next thing we know the doctors are saying the cancer's gone. They couldn't explain it, it was just gone. If anything, she was healthier than before." Turning back to the crowd, he continued, very emotional, "I think it's safe to say that this little girl's got a gift from God here. A gift she wants to share with everyone she can!"

There was a series of shouts and clap and few "hallelujahs."

"I'll let Chole herself take it from here." The man said, falling back.

Chloe Grace stepped up, looking rather serene. "Would anyone who came for healing today please step forward?"

Almost half the tent got up, filling the isles.

Meanwhile, Mattie Daniels was having a heated conversation with one of her contacts she had recruited in trying to debunk the faith healer.

"What do you mean it's completely gone?!" She demanded over the phone, "Cardio myopathies don't just go away!"

"Yeah, well this one apparently did." The young man on other end of the conversation replied, "Apparently Laura Raider got examined by three different doctors after going there just be to be sure and, they all found nothing."

"Well, then maybe she never had it." Mattie suggested, "Maybe this is a Munchausen's thing, or she's working for them."

"I looked into that angle too." The young man admitted, "No evidence of even six degrees of separation from anyone involved in the minstery, or seven or eight degrees for that matter. And there are at least two doctors that, provide she waves confidentially, will swear and court she was denoise with cardio myopathy two years ago and have the test results to prove it." After a beat he added, "You know, there is another explanation for this."

"Not you too, Leonard!" Mattie snapped, then hug up before he could respond. "Eh!" She seethed, slapping her hand on the hood of the car and breathing heavily. After moment, she opened the car door and pulled out a butcher knife out she had sitting on the passenger seat.

In the tent, Chloe Grace, put hand to man's forehead, and his cloudy white eyes, almost immediately changed to a deep gray. "I can see again." He gasped, before falling to his knees, "Oh thank you, thank you!"

"Ah, no problem." Chloe Grace said, helping the man to his feet. Practically before he was out of the way, a woman was pushing a little boy with a completely bald head in front of her. Chloe Grace didn't have to ask what he had. She had seen enough of it since the healing started to get the genera idea. She crouched down, putting three fingers to his forehead. "There you go little guy." She told him as she stood back up.

"Can you see what's going on up there?" Hannah asked, standing to try to get a better view.

"No." Wally admitted, trying to see what was going on as well, then he noticed something else. "I do see that, though."

Hannah glanced over to where Wally was looking, and saw an elderly woman with honeyed brown skin, elegant dressed in black and gold print, sitting at a folding table with a collection box, where the man Chloe Grace had dressed healed walked up, putting several bills.

"She's charging to heal people?" Hannah asked, surprised and somewhat appalled.

"Well, someone is." Wally replied.

That was when Mattie marched into the tent. "Hey!" She called out, getting the attention. The she got louder, "HEY!"

That got everyone to turn in her direction, parting on either side.

"If you've really been blessed with some—some mystical power from God, then save me!" Mattie challenged before taking the knife and sliding it across her throat.

There was series of gasps and screams. Before anyone could react, Chloe Grace sprung across the room, falling on the ground next to Mattie, and putting her hands over her throat. And glowing light emitted from underneath her hands, and when pulled back, there wasn't even a scratch on the woman's throat. Mattie slowly sat upright. "How—"

"Still think I'm fraud?" Chloe Grace whispered to her.

That synched it for Hannah. She didn't know why the energy was different, but Chloe Grace was definitely an angel.

Suddenly an idea occurred to her. She wasn't sure if it was even possible, but…

Just then the two girls from before ran into the room "You alright Cla-Chloe?" The dark-haired one asked as they roughly pulled Mattie up.

"Yeah." Chloe Grace answered, standing up and dusting off her dress.

"That does it." The minster declared, picking up his jacket and thumbling through it, "I'm calling the cops."

"No don't!" Chloe Grace exclaimed.

Jolene managed to get to the front of the crowd. "Chloe dear, this woman is clearly a threat to herself and others."

"No," The woman who had taken money from the formerly blind man declared, walking up, "The girl is right. I'm sure not that this woman has seen for herself what our astounding Chloe Grace can do, she's repentant. Should we not actually practice forgiveness."

Everyone exchanged. "Alright." The minster reluctantly agreed, "Girls, get her out of here."

The girls dragged Mattie out, kicking and screaming, "How did you do that?! How did you do that?!"

The woman turned her attention to Chloe Grace. "You okay, dear?" She asked.

"Yeah, Aunt Nancy." Chloe Grace confirmed, as the woman, Nancy apparently, and also apparently the girl's aunt, hugged her, whispering something in her ear.

In spite of near-disaster, Chloe Grace healed for another hour before the rival ended for the day. Staying behind and watching them clean up from the event, then all head back to a nice, medium-sized, yellow and white house. All the while seemingly not knowing they were being followed.

In the upstairs guestroom, a group of five girls, three roughly about the same age, one a little older, one significantly younger, were counting out the donations.

"This seems a little lighter than usual." The older security guard noted, "You think someone could've snuck some out during that nut job's conniption."

"You shouldn't talk that way." A darker-skinned girl with long black hair spoke up, "That woman could have died."

"She's caused us nothing but trouble ever since she got here, and you really want to feel sorry for her?" The other girl challenged, "Molly, she's harasses people Chloe's heal, tried to get their documents illegally, she's not exactly an innocent."

"She's still a human being." Molly argued, "And so are we."

That was when the older girl saw something that allowed her to change the subject. "Hey, Bette your glove's coming off."

Suddenly, one of the two white gloves, covering the hands of the youngest girl, who was roughly thirteen years of age with long brown hair, was pulled back up by an unseen force.

"Do we really have to use the fake names when she's not around?" Molly before asked.

"They're not fake names." The older girl scolded, "They're the new names we take when we become part of this family."

"We're not a family." Molly protested, "We're a bunch of small-time crooks. Girls, help me out here."

However, before any of the others could saying anything either way, Molly found herself roughly thrown off the bed by an unseen force.

"Do _not_ talk about our family that way!" The older girl seethed, throwing herself halfway over the bead to glare at the other, "Do you know where you'd be without Aunt Nancy? Still locked up that mental institution, probably for the rest of your life!"

"Sissy, clam down, that's enough, that's enough!" Chloe Grace interjected, pulling the older girl, Sissy, back. "Molly, now saw your sorry."

"What—" Molly, began.

Chloe Grace shot her a look and mouthed, _just do it._

Molly finally obeyed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those awful things."

"It's okay." Sissy said, pulling back on the bed and hugging her.

"Well, well, well, what's going on here?" A voice said from the doorway.

All the girls got off the bed. "Nothing, Aunt Nancy." Sissy answered nervously.

"There better not." Aunt Nancy said before gesturing to the two security girls with a single finger, "Linzi Sissy, front and center."

Both security girls stepped forwards, pits forming in their respective stomachs, as they had a pretty good idea what was coming.

"What was that today?" Aunt Nancy demanded, "You two hand one job. One job! Make sure no messes with the operation and keep this one," She gestured to Chloe Grace, "Safe. But you can't even keep the last of the New Atheists out of a tent! What am I supposed to do with girls this incompetent?!"

Linzi had, had about enough of this woman. "We were making the round when she snuck in." She pointed out, "There was only two of us out there today and had the whole area to cover, you can't expect us to—"

"Do _not_ contradict me!" Aunt Nancy snapped, backhanding Linzi on the cheek.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Chloe Grace spoke up, running to the scene and reaching out, "Please, there's no need for that."

Aunt Nancy grabbed Chloe Grace's wrist tightly. "Just because your out-cash cow girlie, do not think that I won't discipline you, too."

Suddenly Chloe Grace's eyes glowed blueish white for a second, an angry intense look forming on her face, before grabbing a hold of the woman and pinning her to the wall. "Don't you touch her…." She ordered, and edge in her voice.

That was when Bette started to cry. "Stop it! Just stop it, please!"

That was when the minster's voice called out. "Hey, is everything okay up there?!"

Everyone stared at each other for a moment, then at last Sissy called out. "Yeah, Pastor Fred, everything's fine."

Meanwhile Hannah had found a backdoor to the lock, pulling out her set of lock picks and pulling what she thought she would need. Sam had been showing her how to use them and she was getting fairly decent at it. She put one of the picks in the mechanism and began to work.

"So, we meet again." A voice called out behind her

Hannah whirled around to see the man she met at the meeting approaching her. "Wally," She began anxiously, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you." Wally countered, when an iron dagger fell out of his coat.

Hannah gave Wally a knowing look. "Hunter?"

Seeing no point in denying he asked, "You, too, huh?"

"Something like that." Hannah replied, "I don't think you're going to need that."

"I take it that means you have some idea what she is." Wally responded.

Before Hannah could answer she heard something coming down. "Come on." She said, running up to him and pulling him and running for the side of the house.

Chloe Grace stepped out, seemingly talking to herself. "Yeah, I know, we need to get out here, but I can't leave without the others."

 _We have Patience on Kia on your side._ A voice in her head rang out, _they'll go with you._

"Yeah, well, that still leaves Sissy and Audrina." Chloe Grace countered, "And now that you've scared the Hell out of Audrina with that bonehead move back there."

That was when Hannah tried to move out from her hiding space, only for Wally to put a hand in front of her. "Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?"

"Trust me." Hannah requested, gently brushing his hand aside and coming out. However, Chloe Grace was too bust having what appeared to be a fight with herself. "Perhaps I can be of ascendance." Hannah called out, "Sister."

Chloe Grace turned around, alarm.

"Or an I talking to the vessel right now?" Hannah asked.

A thrill of anger leaped in Chloe Grace for a moment. "Do you realize how dehumanizing that term is?"

Hannah was struck for a minute. "You're right." She admitted, "I'm sorry, Chloe. Is it alright if I call you that?"

"Actually, you could call me Claire, seeing as that's my name." She told her, "So, I'm assuming you're one of them?"

"I'm an angel yes." Hannah confirmed, "I don't know if you know what happened, but—"

"An idiot angel helped some other megalomaniac angel cast a spell that kicked all the angels out of Heaven?" Claire cut her off, "Yeah, I know, Areal told me everything. _Everything._ "

Hannah swallowed. "Areal, that's the angel?"

Claire nodded.

"May I speak to her for a moment?" Hannah requested.

"No." Claire said bristly, "Anything you have to say to her, you can say to me. We're not like the rest of you parasites. We're a team."

"Parasites?" Hannah repeated, then deciding to let it drop, "To make a long story short, provided Areal hasn't told you about that as well, we got a door to Heaven now and I've been tasked with bringing the stragglers back. Although this—complicates things. I have no clue whether you'd survive the entrance into Heaven in this state, and even if you can—"

"No!" Claire cut her off desperately, "No, she can't take over! We had a deal, we had a—"

Just then Wally stepped out, his arms held out in front of his chest. "Okay," He began, "I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but everyone just needs to calm down. I'm sure that's not what she meant, was it, Hannah?"

"No." Hannah replied, as she honestly wasn't sure where she had been going. She was not prepared for this situation.

 _Claire,_ Areal rang out in the girl's head, _I need to talk to her. Please, just for a minute._

"Okay." Claire agreed, before Areal took the wheel again. "Alright, I'll return. But not with her. She stays here, I'll leave her body. And there are-things I need to take care of first."

"Well, maybe I can with whatever it is." Hannah offered.

"Can you convince two girls that the woman who has them in her thrall is no good?" Areal asked.

And so, Areal explained the situation to them.

"We met Nancy after Claire had a falling out with her mother." Areal told them, "As a whole the family's experiences with angels haven't exactly been good, so needless to say, she was not happy to learn her daughter was currently possessed by one—even one that just saved her life." When that earned, her questioning looks from the angel and hunter she added, "Long story. We didn't have anywhere to go, so we were just—wandering. By chance Nancy her girls were in the same town, they had just picked up Kia. They were running a scam, had her, luring depraved men into hotel room, then Nancy and Sissy would burst into save them, make the men pay for their silence, or something like that. Things went wrong and Kia got…hurt. That was when we found her. I wanted to leave it along, but Claire—Claire had mind of her own as you might has noticed, and she can access my abilities' to certain degree. She healed Kia, but got caught in the act by Nancy and the others. She didn't really know what we were, but she knew she had stumbled onto a good thing. You see, Nancy—I suppose you could say collects physic girls, or girls with other powers. Sissy's telekinetic, Audrina can touch something or someone and know whole chunks of their history, things about them, they found Patience in metal instruction about am month after they found us, she started having vision and the poor girl thought she was going insane, until we corrected her, and Kia's a dream walker. Basically, that means she can travel to other worlds in her dream. She doesn't have much control over it and I don't think it's the boon Nancy thought it would be, the way she treats her. She's not really—decent to any of the girls, not when we're not acting in a way she liked, when we're not being useful but she—she treats Kia the worst. "After a beat she got to her point, "She claims she loves these girls, but she doesn't. She just using them for their abilities. That's why I have to get Claire out of here, but she won't leave the others with that charlatan. Kia and Patience have already agreed to leave, but Sissy—Nancy did actually raise Sissy just about, don't ask me how she cane to be in her care, but that's name Sissy ridiculously loyal to her, and Audrina adores Sissy, she'll do whatever Sissy does. I don't—I don't know how to make them see."

"Ah, I have question." Wally spoke up, "Actually I have a couple different question. What's pastor Fred's roll in all this?"

"Fred's actually a good man." Areal told him, "Nancy was looking for a very public healing to get this operation off the ground, and Claire just found Fred by chance. Now both him in Jolene practically worship the ground we walk on. They're not big fans of Nancy, though, but for now one doesn't come without the other."

"Well maybe he can help—" Hannah began before suddenly a voice starting ringing in her head. _Hey! Hey, we need to talk, you and me. Right now. I think I can help you with this._

"Hey, Hannah you okay?" Wally asked, prepared to catch her.

"Yeah, this one's just started a trend apparently." Hannah answered, "Now my-" She cut herself off before she could say the word, "Mine wants to talk to me."

"Wait, your possessing someone, too?" Wally asked, starting to freak out, "What is this just a thing?"

"Could you please explain it to him while I do this?" Hannah requested, before retreating into her mind. Or Caroline's mind.

She found herself in a smoky club, the one she had mentioned she had mentioned to Sam so many months ago. People were dancing and the music was blaring and Hannah was about to go into sensory overload when suddenly a woman at the bar started waving her hands, calling out, "Hannah! Hannah, over here!"

Hannah walked over to the bar and found a woman with her face, expect the hair hand been straitened out and was pale yellow, dressed in black dress with thing straps, holding a lit cigarette in her hand. She just stared for a minute. "Oh my God." She gapped finally, "If I knew you were going to keep wearing that I would have made you changing clothes a condition of residency."

"I like this outfit." Hannah protested softly, looking down at her clothes. Then she looked back up and said, "You said you could help."

"Yeah, I couldn't help but overhear some of that." Caroline replied, "By the way, does Sam know you're seeing another hunter?"

"Excuse me?" Hannah responded, not sure what Sam had to do with anything.

"I may stay here most of the time, and even when I'm not it's sorta—crowded, you take up a lot of room, honey, but I still manage to see some things." Caroline explained, before taking a sip of the drink the color of water, that had a mint spring sticking out of it, "Like you and big and tall playing house."

"We're not— "Hannah protested, "This isn't a game, what we're doing with the boys."

"That's not what I meant." Caroline told her, "I'm just saying you two make an adorable couple."

"We're not a couple." Hannah said firmly.

"Really?" Caroline responded, raising an eyebrow for a moment, "Is that you're constantly doing the laundry with him?"

"It takes both of us to get it done." Hannah reasoned, "We have two kids, plus Sam. It's called pulling my own weight."

"Uh-huh, and is it just pulling your own weight when you sit down and read, or watch TV or movies with him until he hits the sack for the night?" Caroline teased, "And by the way, German impressionism? Really?"

"I wasn't always good at reading people's faces, sometimes I still don't—" Hannah began, "Anyway, Sam doesn't feel that way about me."

Caroline smirked. "Are you so sure about that?"

"Yes! "Hannah insisted, "And I don't feel that about him. We're just friends. Friends who are raising children together, but, friends. And anyway, even if one us felt that way it would be forbidden. Every if we were completely chase it'd be questionable at best."

"Uh-huh and on angel has ever done anything forbidden ever in the history of the universe." Caroline snarked, "I mean, you're certainly not doing anything forbidden by raising those babies right now. No, you just took your necklace off before you started this case for no reason at all."

"It's not forbidden." Hannah argued, "They boys just made too many enemies in their past lives to risk what getting out—why am I arguing with you about this? That's not even why I'm here. You said you could help Claire and Areal."

"Let me talk to the girls, the one this lady has brainwashed." Caroline offered, "Look, a long time ago, I was like them, I was in someone's—what's the word your new friend used—oh, yeah, thrall. But he was a con too, and he made me a con. Hell, we probably wouldn't be here having this conversation if wasn't for him. Scratch that, I know we wouldn't. Point it, I know what's it like to so devoted you can't see through their crap. I know what it takes to knock them off that pedicel. Tag me in and I can get through to these girls. Look, you can just stay here, you can have my body back when it's over, if that's a problem."

Outside, Hannah was leaned against the wall while Claire, who was dominant once again, was explaining everything to Wally, who, perhaps understandably, was more than a bit phased.

"You got a rugraru problem, hey, I'm your guy." He was saying, "But angels? Hell. I honestly think I preferred it when I thought this a witch or even a demon, and I was nervous enough about the possibility of it being that! I mean, it's not like I hadn't heard the rumors, but this…this is something else."

"Hey, at least you're dealing with one of the good ones." Claire assured him, "Thought I can't speak for this one over here."

"Yeah, about that," Wally began, "Where are you going to go after Areal leaves? You did hear that part, right?"

Before she could answer's "Hannah's" eyes fluttered open. She took a step forward, only stumbled, which she supposed made some sort of sense since it had been months since she was actually the one doing the walking. But no, she realized it was something else. Well, maybe it was both, who knew. Thumbling through the jacket, she pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a sliver lighter, then taking out of the cigarettes, lit it.

"Angels smoke now?" Wally asked.

"No, but sometimes their outfits do." Caroline answered after taking a drag, "You know what, outfits sound sounds even worse than vessels, let's not call it that. Hi, Caroline Johnson, nice to meet ya, I'm here to help, I just need a minute, because apparently I didn't kick this habit while I was under." Then with a shaking hand she too another drag.

That was when they could hear a voice calling out, "Where Claire, where are you, Aunt Nancy's—" The door opened to reveal Kia, who's voice trailed off when she saw the group that had assembled outside, what's going on here?"

As they took the other girl aside in explained everything that was going on Mattie Daniels was trying to sneak in from the other side of the house. Finding a window, she took a crowbar out and started to pry it open.

Meanwhile having formed a plan of action, the growing up walked to the front of the house, where Claire rang the doorbell. After a moment the door was opened by Jolene, who had her sleeves rolled up, staring wide-eyed at the motley crew.

"Jolene, can we all talk?" Claire asked.

Jolene nodded, ushering them all in. "You and Fred were right." Claire began, "Things aren't right with Aunt Nancy, and I want out. I want to get the others out. But I need you to do something for me. Do you think you could get her out of the house for a few hours?"

Meanwhile, Mattie had just got the window to the living room open, when a voice behind her said, "You don't give up, do you?"

She turned around to see an elderly woman in black dress and jacket staring at her, her arms folded. She had seen her at most of the meetings, but wasn't sure who she was.

"Okay, so somehow she can actually heal people, I'll admit that." Mattie gave in, "But that doesn't explain _how_ the little freak is doing it."

Nancy had, had about enough of this. "You're right." She said, "And I can explain it to you, just have to lean a little closer."

Mattie did, leaning into the older woman. Nancy raised her right hand and adjusted one of her rings, the metal one shaped liked a red rose. Then she stuck it neck to Mattie's neck and she feel to the ground, convulsing.

"Nancy!" Jolene's voice called out, "Nancy can you come here a minute?"

 _Damn._ Nancy thought, looking at the dying girl on the ground, she couldn't let them find it but if she took too long, Jolene would get suspicious. Maybe they'd think she'd done it to herself somehow trying to get in….

"Nancy?!" Jolene called out again, "Are you there?!"

"Coming!" Nancy called out, pulling down the window.

Meanwhile, Claire was rallying the troops. "Okay," She was saying, pacing in front of Kia and Patience, "Jolene's talking Aunt Nancy into going out—God, I can't believe I'm still calling her that- Fred's got Sissy and Audrina down stairs, Caroline's waiting in a closet to attack. I need you guys up here, packing. Take only what you can't live without, get their stuff while you're at it. If they won't listen to reason then I'm dragging them out."

"Yeah, not that I don't want to get out of here, but where are we gonna go?" Kia asked.

"We have a couple of options." Claire answered, crouching down in front of the other girl, "Areal has to leave so, maybe me and Mom can patch things up." She took Kia's hands into hers, "And don't think a second I'm leaving you behind." Glancing over at Patience she added, "Any of you. But Patience, don't get mad alright, but while we were figuring this out, I mentioned your grandmother's name, and it turns out, one of them knows a guy who knows her. Made a call, so, he's ready to head out and take you there, all you got to do ask."

"They sure it's her?" Patience asked.

"How many people named Missouri do you think are out there?" Claire smirked.

 _Fair point._ Patience thought. "Let me think while we pack, I'll let you know before we head out."

"Fair enough." Claire agreed.

"Chol—Claire, they're gone!" Fred called up.

"That's my que." Claire said, getting up and heading for the door.

"Claire!" Kia called out, causing her to turn back around, "When you say what we can't live without, does that mean your art supplies."

"You know it Nieves." Claire grinned before leaving.

When Claire got downstairs, she was met with Fred and Caroline standing by the coffee table and a scared Audrina and a ticked Sissy on the sofa. "Care to tell us what this is all about?" Sissy scowled.

Claire stepped in front of them. "Me and the others have made a decision. We're leaving."

"You're what?" Sissy balked, "Chloe, you—you can't all leave."

"Yes, we can." Claire retorted, "And you can too."

"But…we're a family." Audrina spoke up, unsure.

Claire crouched down. "Yes, _we_ are, in a sense, but no her, not Aunt Nancy."

That got Sissy riled. "She saved all of us. My parents had left me for dead, Audrina didn't even have parents, Kia—"

"Sissy, she makes us steal for her." Claire cut her off, "She turns us against each other, uses us for powers, _hurts_ us if we don't go along with whatever she wants. You want to talk about Kia? Look what she did to her for just pointing out the obvious!"

"Well, _Linzi_ shouldn't had been so mouthy!" Sissy argued.

"No, _Kia_ didn't do anything that would warrant being hit like that." Caroline spoke up, "None of you have."

"I'm sorry, and you are?" Sissy responded.

Meanwhile upstairs, Wally was helping the girls pack, picking up a large canvas painting of what looked like a shadowy, winged figure with glowing blue eyes, the whole being immitted a sense of malice—the dark reds and blacks in the background weren't helping—ripping its horrid claws into a young girl with blond hair. "Do I even want to know?"

"Oh, that's part of triptych Claire's been working on." Kia explained walking over from where she had been packing up Aurdina's gloves, "Triptych, that's like a fancy painting with three panels, each with a different picture."

"Oh." Wally commented, before putting the painting in a box. The he picked up another picture, this one older, on tan construction paper, but intricately drawn, this one some sort of violent bloody battle with a tiny blonde right in the middle of it. "She's, ah, very prolific, isn't she?"

"Yeah, it started when she a kid, after…." Kia's voice trailed off when she realized what she was about to do, but unfortunately, she alreally had Wally's full attention, "Look, I shouldn't tell you this, but this isn't Claire's first angel possession. She was possessed by another one for like five minutes when she was ten." When that earned her another confused look, she added, "Long story. Anyway, apparently exposure to celestine power had an effect on her still-developing brain. Namely, she could suddenly do that, where she very little in way of artistic ability before."

Before the conversation could go any further, Patience stopped dead in tracks, nearly dropping the box she was holding, imagines flashing across her mind:

 _Everyone was yelling, people were shoving. Aunt Nancy's hand was in the air and there was some kind of spike it looked like coming out of the ring of hers, the one that looked like a rose. She was trying to hit someone with it, a woman she hadn't seen before. Then there was a body on the ground…Mattie Daniels._

Kia ran over to her. "What happened? What did you see?"

"We may have a problem." Patience answered.

Meanwhile downstairs Caroline was leaned up against the coffee table, much to Fred's chagrin, causing Claire to shoot him an apologetic look.

"When I was around your age, I fell in with a man." Caroline began, "And after some time, I would have run through bullets for him. But…he used. He hurt me, physically and emotionally. He gaslit me to make me think I needed him. But then someone came along ang showed me that wasn't love. That he was using me, just like this-woman is using you."

"Did you really think this scared straight BS was going to work?" Sissy seethed, getting up, "This woman practically raises me and Bette, we're not leaving that just because you made some bad decisions." She took a long paused, gathering herself, "You know what? I don't have to listen to this, come on, Bette, let's go."

"Sissy, wait, please— "Claire pleaded, running up and trying to grab the other girl, only to be thrown across the room.

"What the—" Fred began in shock, as he hadn't been brief on _everything._

Claire something rising to the surface. "Areal, don't.""

 _She hurt you._ Areal protested.

"She didn't mean it." Claire pleaded, "Please."

Just then the girls and Wally came running down the stairs. "Patience had a vison." Kia announced urgently, "We need to get out of here before—"

"Well, well, well." A familiar voice called out, stepping into the living room, "What do we have here?"

Everyone turned to see Aunt Nancy standing in the entry way, being followed by a distraunt Jolene. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stop her."

"You didn't answer my question, girls." Aunt Nancy informed them coolly, "I said, what do we have here."

At last Claire spoke. "We're leaving. All of us."

Aunt Nancy sighed. "Alright, who did something stupid?"

"No, you don't get it." Claire responded, "We're leaving you."

"Not _us."_ Sissy protested, "Just them."

Aunt Nancy glanced over the living room, quickly accessing the situation. "Alright," She said finally, "Any ingrates that want to leave after everything I've done for them, they can." Eying Kia she added, " _That_ one's dead weight anyhow."

Everyone just stared at each other for a moment. They hadn't expected it to be that easy. "Girls, go get your things." Claire ordered.

As they went back upstairs, Aunt Nancy, "But you and me need to have talk, Chole Grace. Alone."

No one really liked the sound of that.

"It'll be fine, she can't do anything with you all here." Claire reasoned, "Or with," She pointed, "You know."

"We'll be right here if you need us." Fred assured Claire and warned Nancy.

As the paired walked outside, Caroline whispered. "Hannah, I think you need to come back now."

The pair walked outside Claire in the lead. "Have you really thought about this, Chloe?" Nancy asked, pulling something out of her coat.

"My name's not Chole Grace it's Claire." She protested, "What is it with you and the renaming thing anyway? You know, what, never mind that now. Yes, I have—" He voice was cut off by something covering her mouth. She struggled, trying to pull it up. That was when she felt herself being pulled back and Areal taking full control. The angel threw the old woman with such force she flew across the lawn, hitting the ground with a loud, _Thud._

"What did I say about touching her?!" Areal screamed.

That caused everyone to run outside. "What happened?" Hannah demanded as Fred asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Claire answered, "She tried to kidnap me."

That was when Patience noticed something out of the corner of the house. She ran around to see what it was and started to scream.

Everyone ran to the and found Patience staring at Mattie Daniel's dead body. Both Hannah and Claire ran to her and she wound up falling into Hannah's arm, burying her face into.

Sissy tried to block Audrina view of the body, but the girl slipped under her and hurried to it. "Bette, what are you doing?!"

"I can see what happened to her." Audrina reasoned, taking off one of her gloves.

"Bette, don't." Sissy insisted, getting on her knees and reaching out to stop her, "You don't need to see that."

"She's right." Nancy added, pulling the girl up.

However, that proved to be a mistake as Audrina accidently touched the estraz Aunt with her bare hand. A series of imagines began to flash before her eyes. A squalling toddler being lifted from a crib. Nancy mixing something in bowel. Nancy pricking Mattie with her rose ring.

Audrina pulled away. "You—you did it." She gapped, "You killed her."

Everyone looked at her. "Nancy, is this true?" Fred spoke up, thought he doubted he would get an honest answer.

"Of course not." Nancy responded, "How would she even know such a thing?"

Meanwhile, since Hannah had Patience, Claire got over to Mattie's body and with a little help, managed a full resurrection, resulting in Mattie sitting upright, screaming.

"It's okay." Claire assured her, "It's okay, you're back. You, ah, wouldn't happen to know killed you, would you?"

Painting, Mattie just pointed at Nancy.

Nancy reacted by grabbing the nearest girl to her, which was Audrina, putting the ring to her neck. "Nobody move." She ordered, "Or I give Bette here a fatal little prick. Chloe get over here. The rest of the girls are expandable, but you're too much of a gold mine to lose."

Not willing to risk the little girl's life, Claire intended to walk over, only to find herself pinned to the ground by her own legs. "Areal," She growled, "It's not worth her life."

 _I promised to protect you._ Areal argued.

"You also promised to let me keep control." Claire reminded her, "So give me my legs back and let me do this!"

However, before she would do anything else, Nancy's hand with the poisoned ring raised up in the air, heading towards the woman's own neck. Realizing what was happening, she shouted, "Sissy, what are you doing?! Sissy!"

"Audrina's not expendable." She seethed, " _I'm_ not expendable!"

The poisoned spike went into the woman' neck and she fell to the ground, convulsing, as Audrina ran to Sissy who emitted starting hugging her and letting her cry into her chest.

"I'll call 911." Fred declared, heading to the door.

"And tell them what?" Wally questioned, not wanting the girls to get penalized for what from his reasoning was defense of a third party.

"Claire, if you save her, I swear, I'll— "Sissy began to threatened.

"That's one thing you don't have to worry about." Claire assured her coolly.

After convincing Fred and Jolene to call the cops, Patience asked Hannah to call Sam, while Wally talked to his wife, then loaded Sissy and Audrina into the back of his car.

"It was nice meeting you, Hannah, let's never do this again." Wally told her on the front step.

"That's understandable." Hannah admitted, "But, ah, thank you for all your help." Writing on a slip of paper, she said, "Here's my number in case you have any trouble with the girls. I don't have that much experience with teenagers, but from what I hear they can be a handful."

"You make that almost sound like you have kids." Wally responded, then a look crossed Hannah's face, that made him say, "Seriously? You? Kids? How does that even—"

"Well, they're—adopted I just you could say." Hannah explained.

"What, are they like—" Wally made a gesture with his fingers, trying to figure out what to say, "T-the lady you're in's, or something?"

"She didn't have any children." Hannah answered, "I'm not entirely sure the lifestyle she led was conducive to them. "After a beat, she asked, "So, what exactly is the plan? With them?"

"Well, according what Audrina saw there's a chance one or both of them was stanched." Wally answered, "So, I'll try to find where they belong and if I can't—I guess me and Lemmie Sue have couple of daughters."

Hannah gave him a small smile. "I wish you the best of luck."

"Thanks, you too." Wally replied, before heading to the car.

Meanwhile, the remaining girls were inside, staring into cups of tea.

"You guys, okay?" Claire spoke up finally.

"I think so." Patience replied, "I mean, as much I can be. We _did_ just watch somebody die, even if that somebody had it coming."

"Same here." Kia responded, "What about you with you know, ah—" Kia pointed to her temple with her finger, "Heading back upstairs."

"I don't know." Claire admitted, looking down, "I mean, she's been here over a year, and we've been through a lot together, more than you guys know. It's like—losing my best friend."

 _I take no joy and leaving you either._ Areal voice rang out, in her head, _I shall miss you terribly, and honestly, I'll worry. But maybe this is for the best._ After a beat she added, _if you ever need anything, just ask, and I'll be there. I don't care what they say._

Claire couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Areal."

That was when she felt a hand slip into hers. "Hey," Kia said, "At least you still have me."

Outside, Hannah was watching for Sam when a black Impala pulled up. A black Impala with two full car seats.

"No." Hannah breathed, hurrying down the stairs at Sam got out, "You brought the boys with you?! What were you thinking?"

"Well, it would be hard for Reason or Serena Joy to do it, and it's another day's drive— "Sam began.

"Sam, there was a murder here yesterday, there's an angel currently inside and after some more discussion with the teenager she's in, she has may have gurge against Cas from before. I can't be sure because she won't use names but considering she keeps referring to idoit who helped the megalomaniac. Of all the foolish things to—" At that point Sam couldn't understand what Hannah was saying as she was so angry, she had slipped int Encohian. Very angry Enchioan. And the language was intense enough when the speaker was calm.

It was so loud it woke the boys up, but they stayed quiet. Starting to get uncomfortable, Dean started squirming, trying to get down from his seat, and Cas started to cry.

That caused both parents to run to the car, Hannah using her powers to open the door. She took the one closer to her, which was Dean, and Sam grabbed Castiel. "It's alright, bud." He soothed, "It's okay."

"Why you so mad?" Dean spoke up.

"Oh, sweetie, Mommy didn't mean to get mad she was just worried." Hannah explained, "She was just scared." She pulled him in even closer.

"You smell funny." Dean informed her.

Hannah froze the smoke from the cigarette. She smelled like smoke.

That was when Patience stepped outside. "Everything okay?"

"Oh, thank Father." Hannah whispered, grateful it was anyone put Claire, and therefore Areal as well. "Patience this is my friend, Sam. He's the one who's going to take you to your grandmother."

After Sam, the boys and Patience took off, the remaining two girls said their goodbyes to the elderly couple.

"Remember, if you need us, for anything let us know." Fred said, hugging Claire and the Kia.

"I still owe you." Jolene said, hugging Claire, then taking off her periwinkle ribbon and pinning it to the girl's shirt.

"Ah, I think I'm the one who owes you at this point." Claire said, before heading to the door where Hannah was waiting. The pair exchanged glances.

The carried was long and silent, save the radio, Hannah driving with the girls in the back. Event Kia fell asleep to Mat Kearny.

 _Something's in the air tonight. The sky's alive with the burning light. You can mark my words, something's bout to break…_

Claire watched the girl lost in in sleep as Hannah watched them both in the review for the moment.

 _And I found myself in a bitter fight, while I've held your hand through the darkest night. Don't know where you're coming from, but you're coming soon…_

"I know you're still in here, Areal." Hannah said finally, "Remember, like her, we had a deal."

"She says you haven't completed your end yet, not until we get my Mom's place." Claire informed.

"I thought your mother was against your angel possession." Hannah pointed, "It might not be good idea for her to be there when you show up."

 _She's right._ Areal admitted, in a defeated voice.

"No, I'm not ready yet." Claire whispered, "Please don't leave me."

 _I won't ever really leave you._ Areal assured, _You'll always know where to find me. I love you._

"I love you too." Claire whispered, before opening her mouth and emitting a thing, wispy blueish white like that flew out an opened window. Then she curled up next to Kia and fell asleep.

 _And here we go. There's nothing left to choose. And here we go. There's nothing left to lose…_

They arrived at the apartment complex the next morning, Hannah pulling in front of one of the apartments at the bottom level. "22 A, right?"

"Yeah," Claire confirmed.

"I'll watch until you get in." Hannah told her as Claire opened the door.

Claire froze for a second. "You don't have to do that."

"I actually do." Hannah replied, "I have promises to keep, remember?"

That actually took Claire by surprise. "You might be one of the good ones after all."

Hannah honestly wasn't sure what to make of that statement as they walked up to the door holding hands for moral support. Before they could even knock and woman in high-end server uniform opened the door stopping in shock. "Claire?"

"Hey, Mom," Claire nervously, "Areal's gone. It's a long story and I wanted-can I come home.]?"

The woman answered by grabbing her into a tight hug.

"I'd take that as yes." Kia commented.

"Yes, yes, I never wanted you to leave!" The woman confirmed before finally letting her daughter go, "Claire, who's this?"

"Kia Nieves, this is my Mom, Amelia, Mom, this is my friend. Kia." Claire introduced them, "I was hopping—she could crash with us?"

"Of course." Amelia beamed, "Come on, come on, both of you."

The boys helped ease tensions in the car, and the boys kept their new friend entertained, and their new friend kept them entertained as well.

"What dis on say?" Dean asked, handing a block to Cas who handed it to Patience. Cas added, "The orange side."

Patience held the block, reading it, "Nickel."

"What nickel?" Dean asked.

"It used to make a type of metal." Patience explained.

"Thanks for being so understanding about this, Patience." Sam said, "You're really good with them."

"It's nothing really." Patience said, fiving him a small, unsure smile while she turned the block.

In Lawrence, Kansas, Missouri Mosely was on the phone with her son, having a very heated argument,

"Just because you're mad at me doesn't mean you gaslight your daughter!" Missouri exclaimed into the phone, "How bright of a future do you really think she'll have doped up on pills she doesn't need?" Just then the bell rang. "I have to go. But we _will_ be talking about this later."

"Mom, don't—" James began, before Missouri hung up. She walked to the door and opened it, revealing Patience looking like she was about to throw up at any second, and a weary Sam holding two toddlers on leashes.

"It's alright, honey." Missouri assured her granddaughter, pulling her into a hug, "Come in, sit down, all help Sam with your bag." Then as Patience walked in Missouri hugged Sam. "Thank you so much for bringing her back to me."

"No problem." Sam assured her, as they walked to the car.

"You'd think I'd be able sense something like this going on in my own family." Missouri lamented, "By the way, don't worry about your, ah, celestial lady friend. She'll have clammed down by the time you all get home."

"How did you—" Sam began, as she hadn't mentioned Hannah's species on the phone, "Right, physic."

As they got the suitcase Missouri whispered, "I like them this way, by the way."

Patience was sitting on the couch when Sam came back in and sat it down. "It's been good seeing you again, Missouri." He told her as he turned to go, "Circumstances aside."

"Oh, stay for a little bit, with you?" Missouri urged.

"I couldn't possibly." Sam responded, "Not when you have all—"

"Sam Winchester." Missouri cut him off, "Your kids need to stretch their legs a bit, and I still need a few more explanations and it won't kill you to get home after your other angel. It'll at least give her time to wash the smell of smoke off."

"Ah, all right then." Sam agreed heading to the couch.

Sam did in fact arrive home with the boys after Hannah, despite being somewhat close. She walked to them in the garage dressed in nothing but one of Sam's shirt, which fit her like a mini dress. "I hope you don't mind." She said, unfastening a sleeping Dean's car seat, "My clothes are in the laundry. I had to get the smoke smell out before you got back."

"It's alright," Sam assured, "You, ah, you actually look good in my shirt. Why'd you smell like smoke anyway."

"Caroline offered to help, but, ah, she was going to withdrawal, needed cigarette while we were formulating a plan." Hannah explained.

"Caroline?" Sam repeated, "As in suicidal grifter Caroline?"

"Yes, she knows a thing or two about cons." Hannah explained.

"Oh." Sam replied, "So, ah, how'd it go with your girls?"

"We got them to Claire's mom." Hannah confirm, "I think they're going to be okay. At least eventually." After beat she said, "Not, to change the subject, but I want to ask you something. You don't mind that I worked with another hunter on this, do you?"

"No, why?" Sam responded.

"Just something Caroline said." Hannah answered, "Never mind."


	35. Valentine's Day

"Wow, guys really get desperate a few days before Valentine's day." Reason noted, looking at what little remained of their stock of various treats and flowers.

"Some girls too. Actually, more than you'd think. Works like a charm every year." Rawls said, pulling out a circling package containing summer sausage and cheese and tortes and nuts, "Hey, Reason, why don't you take this?"

"No, I couldn't." Reason replied politely.

"Please, I insist." Rawls told her, "It's the last one."

"But there are still three days left till Valentine's day." Reason countered, "How about if it's still here by then, I take it, okay?" She felt bad just taking his inventory, still that was a lot of food to just turn down.

"Alright then." Rawls agreed, setting it back down.

That was when they heard a car pull up outside. They slid open the panel and saw a black Impala sitting there.

"Guess your ride's here." Rawls commented.

"How did he even find us?" Reason wondered aloud, walking to the car with Rawls behind her, "Sam, you really didn't have to bother."

"I wanted to." Sam insisted, then seeing she wasn't alone, "Hey, Rawls. How's it going?"

"Good." Rawls answered, "Got the reservations for V-day, everything's going to be perfect. Hopefully." After a beat he added, "So, Sam, what, ah, do you in the missus have planned?"

"Missus?" Sam repeated.

"Ah, I think he means Hannah." Reason informed him as she got in.

"Oh, no, me and Hannah, it's not like that." Sam corrected them quickly, "We're just friend who are raising children together, which would make it hard to get out anyway…"

"I could take them." Reason volunteered, "I mean, you watch Maudie, what, every day, wouldn't kill me to return the favor."

"It's nice gesture Reason, but where would I even get a reservation three days before Valentine's Day?" Sam pointed out, "Everything's probably booked."

"I think _White Castle_ might still have a couple of spots, if you're quick about it." Rawls informed.

" _White Castle?"_ Sam repeated, "As in the fast food chain? That serves the tiny burgers?"

"Yeah, they do table side service, glasses, candles, reservations, the whole nine for Valentine's day." Rawls explained.

 _Well, it has been a rough couple of weeks._ Sam thought. "Alright, I'll look into it."

"Smart man." Rawls told him, "Smart man."

The ride back to the bunker was silent until Sam began, "Reason, can I ask you something?" Before she could give her permission or deny it the hunter continued anyway. "Why does everyone and their mother seem to think me and Hannah are together? Like romantically?"

"Well, the fact that you have two kids together might have something to do with it." Reason quipped.

"We explain that to people when they ask." Sam protested, "Well, we give a very sanitized version. And besides, before-the incident, she once told Cas that me and Dean were bad influences on him, and I couldn't even remember her name. Not exactly the beginnings of a fairytale romance."

"Fairytale romances are overrated." Reason informed him. After a beat she added, "You know also didn't get along very well when they first met? That couple from that _Hallmark movie_ with Doris Roberts and the cupcakes."

Sam fought the urge to laugh at that description. "Yeah, well, I don't really think I should be taking romantic advice from _Hallmark_ or any sort of other advice for that matter. I mean, in real life Aroura Teagarden would be dead or in prison by now."

Reason decided to direct the conversation back to Sam's original question, "Of course the fact that she sometimes wears your clothing doesn't help matters."

Sam was startled by that one. "How do you even know about that?"

"Dean mentioned it when he was telling Maudie about your 'trip'." Reason answered, "And when Maudie was telling me about it, she also mentioned it."

"It was only the one time." Sam protested, "She needed to wash hers and angels don't usually have a change of clothes."

"Uh-huh." Reason responded, "And that time you shared a bed?"

"With three toddlers." Sam pointed out, "Cas had a bad dream, I tried to calm him down with a story, Dean and Maudie wanted to listen too, and the boys wanted their Mom. Nothing more nothing less."

"Alright." Reason conceded, ending the conversation.

Later, after Sam dropped Reason and Maudie off at her trailer, and made a few calls, Sam looked up and found the room was short one angel. "Hey, guys, where's your Mom?"

"She said she was taking some boxes to the 'rage." Dean answered, "She be right back."

"Wait here." Sam told them, heading for the garage. This should probably be private anyway.

In the garage, Hannah was walking to the Lincoln with large box of product in each hand and another on her head. When she got close enough the back door opened and she slid one box in, then the other, then removed the box from her head.

That was when Sam found her. "Hey." He called out.

Startled she turned around, still holding the box. "Sam," She began, surprised, "Where are the boys?"

"In the main room, I, ah, just had something, I wanted to ask you privately." Sam began awkwardly. He didn't know why this was so hard.

His tone was raising alarm bells with Hannah. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Sam assured her, "I, ah…I don't know if you knew or not, but um…Valentine's Day is in like, three days."

"Yes, I noticed the sudden abundance of hearts and stuffed animals." Hannah replied, "It's some sort of holiday for lovers, right?"

"Basically." Sam confirmed, "It, ah, started from a pagan Greek holiday where they would beat all the unmarried women and sacrifice a dog, then, ah there was this guy who's name, in theory at least was Valentine, who was preformed marriages for Roman soldiers after the emperor banned soldiers getting married because –well, Romans were jerks, I mean, they set Christians on fire and left baby girls to die in garbage heaps—" Sam realized he was getting _way_ off topic, Sam refocused, "Anyway, we've gone through a lot lately with me almost getting eaten by a tiger, and the business with Claire and Areal, I thought—I thought you might want to go out?"

Hannah was silent for a minute confused. Sam asking her out? But they weren't a couple? On the other hand, it wasn't like he intended to beat her for being unmarried, and… "That actually sounds nice."

Sam broke into a smile. "Great. Is six okay?"

"Yes, six is fine." Hannah agreed.

"Prefect." Sam agreed, suddenly at a lost for what to do with himself, "Do you, ah, need help there?"

"Don't you have to get ready for tonight?" Reason asked Serena Joy as they drove down the road in her car. Valentine's Day had finally arrived.

"I got everything laid out already and total of two hours by the time I get you and your brood dropped off and me back to my place." Serena Joy reasoned, "Plus, I have gotta see this."

"Serena, please don't embarrass them." Reason entreated her friend, "Aside from the fact they're still just friends, I wouldn't be surprise if one or both of them are nervous."

"Alright, I promise to be on my best behavior." Serena Joy assured her.

Hannah was the one that answered the door when they arrived. "Hi." Reason greeted her.

"Hi." Hannah repeated, ushering them in. "Everyone's this way." As they walked down the stairs she added, "Thank you for doing this again."

"It's no trouble, really." Reason insisted.

Unable to help herself, Serena Joy blurted out, "I'm sorry, I have to ask, is that what you're wearing tonight?"

"Serena!" Reason exclaimed, mortified.

"Well, better here than in front of everybody." Serena Joy reasoned.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Hannah asked, suddenly able to stop herself from looking down at her clothes.

"For starters you literally wear that same outfit every day." Serena Joy pointed out, "Really, don't ever have to wash it?"

Before the conversation could go any further and possible turn into an argument, they came to where Sam was waiting with the kids. "Mommy!" Maudie called out, running to her mother and wrapping her arms around her legs, "Guess what?"

"What?" Reason asked, even thought she had idea of what it was going to be.

"Dean and Cas gonna stay with us!" Maudie grinned up at her.

"I know, I was the one who told you, silly." Reason smiled at her, running her fingers through Maudie's hair.

"Thanks again Reason." Sam said.

"Your—well, whatever you are, already took care of that." Reason informed him.

"Yeah, speaking of which, we're going to need to borrow your—whatever you two are, for about an hour or so." Serena Joy informed him, grabbing Hannah by the arm and leading her back up the stairs.

"What does that mean?" Sam called out.

"What are you— "Hannah began, struggling to get away, but not using as much stretch as she could, afraid she might hurt Serena Joy.  
"Serena, please!" Reason pleaded, walking up the stairs with the children.

"You'll all thank me later." Serena Joy told them before calling back to Sam, "I still need to get ready so pick her up about five, give or take."

"But—" Sam stammered out, "Why do you—" However, he cut off by the door shutting.

The three women wound up in Serena Joy's apartment, specifically her bedroom, where Serena Joy was pulling open the sliding doors of her closet. "Okay, let me look here." She said, "I have a couple dress that work when I'm really trying to wow a guy. Ah ha!" She pulled out a blue sheath dress. "Oh, just wait until Sam gets a look at you in this." She declared holding up against Hannah.

"Why would same see me differently because I was wearing this dress?" Hannah asked, still _very_ confused as to what they were doing here, why they were doing this, and really wanting to check on the kids in the living room.

"Oh, honey, you really have no idea, do you?" Serena Joy replied, laying it down on the bed.

"Serena, I think you're kind of freaking her out." Reason told her.

Serena Joy turned back around. "Okay, I get it that you and Sam are just friends." Serena Joy said, "But tonight is a special occasion. Which means me we need to get out of these fifty shades of gray, and start talking about make up. Reason, be a dear and run down to the Dollar _Tree._ I'm not lending her my hose. That's just a bit too far."

Reason got off the bed and parted the beaded curtain Serena Joy had in place of a door.

"Wait," Hannah called out, pulling her wallet out of her jacket and pulling out a twenty, and handed it to Reason. "For the hose, though I'm not sure why we need one."

Serena Joy and Reason looked at each other. "You explain it to her." Reason said, before leaving.

Once Reason left, Serena Joy turned her attention back to Hannah. "Now," She began, going over to her vanity, "How do you feel about red lipstick?"

Once they had finished, Hannah stared at herself in the middle, tugging at the dress, which fell just above the ankles. It showed off just a bit of her breast, the place where they parted, her locket lying on bare skin. In fact, even though the dress was fairly modest, she never thought she had showed this much skin before. On her legs was a pair of flesh-colored panty house, and she was wearing Serena Joy's black high heels, feeling liked she was going to topple over at any moment. She had refused the red lipstick, instead going for the pink she had found in her jacket. She felt like a doll.

"Oh my gosh, you look absolutely gorgeous." Reason declared, starting to think that Serena Joy had maybe been onto something.

"Thank you." Hannah replied, softly looking down, self-conscious.

"Angelic, I'd say," Serena Joy quipped coming being Hannah gently pushing head up, "Chin up now. Oh, wait until Sam gets a look at you."

Suddenly it dawned on her. "Do you…think me and Sam are a couple?"

"What?" Serena Joy responded, playing dumb, "No. I just thought you might like looking nice for tonight." To be fair, that part was true.

"Well, thank you." Hannah replied, as she realized she was at least partially sincere.

Eventually they got back into the living room where the children were waiting. "Mommy, you look pretty." Dean informed her.

"Ah, that is so sweet of you to say." Hannah told him, leaning down and giving him a hug, the giving Cas one as well, saying, "Be good for Miss Reason, alright you two?"

"Okay." The boys agreed at about the same time.

Turning around, Hannah continued, "Unless something happens, we shouldn't be any later to get them than seven thirty."

"Got it." Reason agreed, rounding up the toddlers, "Come on, Kiddos."

"Love Mommy!" Dean called out.

"Love." Cas repeated.

"I love you too." Hannah agreed, giving them both another hug and a kiss on the forehead before they were out the door.

After she dropped Reason off, Serena Joy and Hannah were the only two left in the house.

"I figured Sam would be here to get you by now." Serena Joy commented from bedroom, putting in a pair of sliver stub earrings.

"If you need me to, I just head back to the bunker on my own." Hannah told her, carefully standing up and grabbing the black clutch purse Serena Joy had loaned her to store her things.

"Absolutely not." Serena Joy entered firmly marching through the beads. She was currently wearing a black off the shoulder dress with matching strap heals, the necklace Rawls had given her for Christmas which she had barely taken off since, was hanging from her neck and one gold plate and medal ring was on her right finger. Her hair was slightly curled and she had put on the red lipstick. It looked striking. "It's dangerous out on the side of the road with no one sure where you are and you can barely walk in those heels. Which should have occurred to me earlier. The point is, if something were to happen to you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself, so sit back down."

"Any degenerate who tried adduct me would get a nasty surprise." Hannah assured her, but set back down anyway, "Plus, I'm fair certain you could use these shoes as a weapon."

"In a pinch." Serena Joy admitted, sitting on the opposite love seat.

All was quiet for a moment, the Hannah requested, "Serena, can I ask you something?"

"You want to know why everybody thinks you and Sam are a couple or—in the process of becoming a couple." Serena Joy guessed.

Hannah nodded.

"Well, aside from the fact that you're halfway to a nuclear family," Serena Joy began, "There's these little things that people will do, these intimate tinie tiny things, that couples will do, and sometimes you two will do them in front of God and everybody. As for your privates' lives, I don't know if you do those things or not, I'm not there."

Taking a moment to contemplate that, Hannah said, "I don't know exactly what we're doing, but I can assure Sam and I are just friends. It's all we ever can be."

"Well, it seems to me that the best relationships-the ones that last—are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship." Serena Joy replied, "You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flipped somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is…suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with."

Hannah had to take a few moments to contemplate that as well. "That's very profound."

"Don't be too impressed, I got it from an episode of the _X-Files._ "Serena Joy admitted, then look up at ceiling sighed, "Season six."

Deciding to try to change the subject rather than explain why that switch could not be flicked in her and Sam's case, Hannah asked, "Can I ask if the switch has flipped for you and Rawls yet?"

"It's, ah, actually kind of funny story." Serena Joy began, "We had only been dating for about a month, you know, coffee, seeing a couple flicks, then you remember J. T., the idiot who shot the weather balloon at new year's? Well, he was in the hospital and I stopped by to check on him after work, and Rawls just happened to be with me. Now, J. T.'s parents have a lot of kids and Rawls just starts keeping them occupied, giving his folks and older sibs a few moments, no one asked him to, he just did, and then his older sister who was pregnant and prone to anemia gets hungry and Rawls, trying to be useful volunteered to go find something. But then he was gone so long I find him and—" She had to fight to keep from cracking up, "He had got his hand stuck in a vending machine."

Hannah didn't see how that was funny and was in fact, somewhat dismayed. "Was he alright?"

"He's still got both hands, doesn't he?" Serena Joy pointed out, "So he's standing there, in this ugly vintage 70s sport coat that I'll be you cash money he'll be wearing tonight, bent over, pulling, trying to get it out, and suddenly it just—it just hits me I'm in love with this man. I'm in love with this sweet, somewhat goofy, caring mess of a guy."

Hannah smiled at the story, but felt a strange stirring from somewhere inside her. It couldn't be that she wanted her own vending machine moment with Sam. Could it? No, she may be playing fast and loose with things for the sake of the boys, but she couldn't do that. Couldn't …. _be_ with a human like that. It was bridge too far. Besides, Sam didn't feel anything like that for her.

But…what if she opened the door?

By chance Sam and Rawls arrived at Serena Joy's apartment at the same time. Sam was dressed in his usual flannel and jeans and Rawls sure enough was wearing dress pants and shirt, covered with a vintage polyester yellow sport coat. "Hey," Sam greeted him.

"Hey," Rawls repeated, "So, ah, watcha doing here?"

"Your girlfriend kidnapped my platonic life partner." Sam explained, "I'm here to get here."

"Makes sense." Rawls replied, knocking on the door, "Serena? Hannah? We're here."

The door was opened, revealing Serena Joy. "You ready to go?" Rawls asked as she stepped out.

"Yep." Serena Joy replied, taking the roses he was holding, "Ah, you didn't have to do that."

That was when Hannah stepped out apprehensively. When Sam saw her, he was surprised speechless for a moment, but he finally got out. "You look great."

"Thank you." Hannah responded, "You do too."

Sam was at a lost for what to do for a moment then remembered. "I, ah, I got you this." He pulled a heart shaped box out of his coat, "They're, ah, chocolates."

Hannah felt her chest do that thing again as she took it.

"You're, ah, you're not going to start crying, are you?" Sam asked. She had the look she had that day on her face.

"No." Hannah promised, "But I—I didn't get you anything this time."

"That's okay." Sam assured her. It's not like she knew he was going to get her something. _He_ didn't even know he was going to get her something until he saw the box.

"Ah, guys, I hate to break this up but we have to get going if we're going to make those reservation." Rawls spoke up.

"Us too." Sam agreed, "Ah, have good time guys."

When Rawls said they went all out at _White Castle_ on Valentine's Day, he wasn't kidding. The tables in red or pink tablecloths, those sparkly centerpiece things, and had hearts everywhere, hanging for the ceilings, on the table, plastered to the windows.

"This is nice." Hannah said, as they seated at a table.

"Yeah, I'm actually surprised." Sam admitted, his eyes looking around the room for the moment, then feeling that required an explanation, continued, "This is usually a fast food joint, so, ah it doesn't usually pull out on the stops I like this. I mean, it's, um, sanitary and all just not as fancy." After a beat he started to worry. "I hope that's okay."

"Sam, I'm not picky." Hannah informed him.

Just then the waitress came up to them. "Hey, I'm Megan, I'll be your server this even, do you know what you want to drink?"

"I'll just go with a diet coke, thanks." Sam answered.

After briefly looking at the menu, Hannah looked up, saying, "Ginger ale, please."

"Alright," Megan said, writing that down, "One diet coke, and one ginger ale, got it. I'll have those right out in a sec."

"Thanks." Sam replied.

At a slightly more upscale restaurant, Serena Joy was returning from the bathroom, only to find her date was nowhere in sight. And in that nightmare he called a sport coat he wasn't too hard to spot.

She was looking around the room when the host came up to her, saying, "Excuse me, miss?" Once had her attention, the man said, "The gentleman you were with told me to let you know that your beeper went off and he wanted to make sure they didn't give your table away and that's he's just inside in the non-smoking section."

"Thanks." Serena Joy said, before walking into the dining area. Sure enough, Rawls sitting at a table across the room, waving at her.

"Don't worry, I didn't start without you." Rawls assured her, picking up the bread basket and handing it in her direction, "Roll?"

Meanwhile, Reason had dinner of the table, the last of her Christmas Bonus, the mini corn dogs, and leftover dinner macaroni and cheese, which there was a lot of because every cook at the diner had an issue with making too-large portions when it came to the stuff, dolling it out on the plates while three sets of little eyes watched her.

"There you go little guy." She said, handing a plate to Castiel, who was the last one.

"Fank you." Cas replied before digging in.

Reason took her own portion then sat down at the head of the bench, or the end depending how one was looking, and began to eat herself. After minute she asked, "Hey guys, how would feel about desert after dinner tonight?"

That got them excited as deserts were a rare treat usually only on special occasions for all three of them. "Really, Mommy?" Maudie asked.

"Yeah." Reason confirmed, "Mommy's other boss gave her a gift box that didn't sell and there was bunch of sweet stuff in there."

"Yay!" Maudie cheered, and soon her friends were cheering in agreement.

"But," Reason condition, "You have to get all your dinner food first."

"Okay." Dean readily agreed, as he and the other digged into their plates.

Meanwhile, back at the _White Castle,_ Megan had brought their drinks and now Sam and Hannah were looking over the menus, while a new song started from the speakers. " _Somewhere there's speaking. It's already coming in. Oh, and it's rising at the back of your mind…._ "

"I didn't know you liked ginger ale." Sam told Hannah.

"Dean got carsick one day and I read that it helped with nausea." Hannah explained, "Then I got car sick and we still had half a bottle so I drunk some. Turns it out was actually good."

"I didn't know angels got car sick." Sam responded.

"It was rather—unpleasant surprise the first time for me too." Hannah informed him, "It was back before—the incident." Suddenly uncomfortable talking out things pre-incident, she changed the subject, "Anyway, at least now it won't look like we ordered the exact same thing."

Sensing the implication of the statement, Sam said, "You know, you don't what to just get whatever I get. Get whatever you want."

"That's that thing, Sam I don't _know_ what I want." Hannah explained, "And I trust your judgment." After a beat, recalling him taking the boys to Illinois, she added, "Mostly."

"Come on, it's a sandwich, not a battle plan." Sam quipped, the just looked at Hannah. He couldn't believe that she trusted him that complete, let alone, admitting it. Then again, she had been doing that a lot more lately. With the boys. With her work. With her painful pass…

Cas had only ever given them the broad strokes about how he and Hannah met, that she had been involved in some sort of skirmish, but never gave them the details. Well, he had given the details, but he hadn't identifying her by name as the surviving angel. Sam wasn't sure why. Maybe out of respect for her privacy, maybe because they had been busy. He never made the connection until a night when after one of the boys had a nightmare, they were all in the bed together and somehow, she had fallen asleep. She didn't cry out, but the next day she was jumpy all morning, and also, oddly forlorn. When at last Sam was able to get her alone and asked what was wrong, she told him everything, in tears when she was done.

"I can still hear them screaming." She told him, "All those angels, my friends, Abdiel, Elisheba, Raquel…" Yes, Raquel had been particularly dear to her. The thought of her, lying there in her own blood, after imagine wings spread out, sent her into renewed sobs.

Sam pulled her into his arms saying, "I'm so sorry. I know that doesn't really help, but I am so sorry."

Suddenly he ad the urge to give another confession that day. "I know this sounds horrible but sometimes I see Serena Joy and Reason I get so envious. I know how that sounds…."

"It sounds like you're grieving." Sam told her at the time, "It doesn't mean anything."

Sam, "Hannah began, in the here and now, perplexed, "You're staring."

"Oh, sorry." Sam responded, sharing his head, "It's just…you look so beautiful tonight." It might not had been the exact reason he was staring but it wasn't untrue. Not that she wasn't pretty normally, in fact she was quite striking. And caring. And dedicated to the point of almost being fanatical. And while she still had a lot to learn, she caught on pretty quickly….

Sam shook his head. Why he was thinking like this?

" _You never could get, unless you fed it. Now you're here and you don't know why…."_

Rawls and Serena Joy were looking at their menus when suddenly the waiter brought over two champagne flutes. "Oh, so this is why you went in without me." Serena Joy teased. She didn't actually like champagne, but she didn't think she had even told him that, and it was a sweet gesture. She did somewhat worry about the expense though.

"Ah, I didn't—" Rawls began, realizing a mistake had been made.

However, before he could correct her, Serena Joy was about to drink, where saw the golden ring with a shining dimon facetted to it. "Oh my God!" She exclaimed, then look at the ceiling. "Sorry." Then she stuck her fingers into the glass, sending champagne everywhere, shouting, "Yes! Oh my gosh, yes!"

She was going into the kiss when Rawls leaned back saying, "Ah, Serena, I didn't order those."

"It did." Another man stood up awkwardly.

Serena Joy's heart plummeted, embarrassed. "Here." She said, handing it to the man. "Sorry about that. Really nice cut by the way."

"Thanks." The man replied, looking he was about to past out. Then he got on his knees, the woman with him, presumably his girlfriend, covered her mouth in shock. "I think you know what I'm gonna ask." He beamed.

The woman removed her hands. "Yes!"

"She said yes!" He anouched to the now staring at them. When he said that they started clapping.

Serena Joy slide down into her seat. She couldn't believe this was happening.

That was Rawls leaned over and whispered, "Hey, you want to this out of here?"

"Yes, please." Serena Joy said, already getting up.

At Reason's, she had the dishes in the sink, and brought the gift box over to the table, where the kids were eagering waiting. She had already astored the cheeses, sausages and jams away, leaving the sweets. "Alright, guys." She said, "We got some sort of fancy cakes, we got fruitcake, we shortbread cookies, chocolates of some sort, those little strawberry candies, what's your pick?"

"Cookies!" Dean exclaimed.

"Yeah, cookies!" Maudie agreed.

"I want cookies, too." Cas added.

That was when Reason realized, "Ah guys, slight problem, there's only two cookies." When that was met with quivering lips she quickly said, "Alright, here's what we're gonna do." She went over to the cutlery drawer and came back with a knife. Opening one of the cookies, she said, "We're just gonna," The knife went down on long cookie, sending a few comes to the table, "Half this one," pushing them to the two nearest toddlers she said, "And Maudie and Dean each get half." She repeated the action with the next action before pushing to Cas saying, "And then Cas, gets a half and then," She then cut the remaining half into slightly more shakey thirds, "You each get a third."

Looking down at her portion, Maudie asked, "What about you Mommy?"

"It's alright, honey, I never really liked shortbread anyway." Reason responded.

"But you eat Miss Serena's shortbread." Maudie pointed out.

It was true; she could eat a ton of that stuff. Reason froze, not wanting to lie again, but not know what else to do. At last she said, "Well, Miss Serena puts stuff in her shortbread. "That was also true, Serena Joy was always making different flavors of her shortbread: Vanilla bean, chocolate, sage…

Suddenly Dean pushed his third back at Reason. Then Cas and Maudie did the same.

Reason could fell her heart swell. "How did we get such sweet kids?" She wondered aloud, then said, "You know what?" She took three triangles of chocolate and put it out in front of each of them. "Don't tell you parents I gave you this much sugar, okay boys?"

The boys nodded and Cas said, "Fank you."

"Fank you." Dean repeated.

"Frank you." Maudie added, before putting the triangle on top of her cookie. "Mommy look! I'se made chocolate shortbread."

Reason laughed. "Yeah, honey, you did."

Back at the _White Castle_ Sam had two grilled chicken sliders, while Hannah insisted on one, large thing of fries between them, which the angel was now swiping another one.

"So much for you only wanting a couple." Sam quipped.

Hannah moved her hand back, embarrassed.

"I was only kidding." Sam added quickly, realizing what had happened, "It was a joke."

Hannah actually laughed out loud, taking another fry.

 _Okay, it wasn't that funny._ Sam thought. But still, it was good to hear her laugh.

That was when she told him, "I overheard the oddest conversation today."

"Oh?" Sam responded, genuinely curious.

"The children were talking to each other and the topic turned to how whether happened." Hannah explained, "Maudie told the boys quite confidently that she knew how rain was made."

"How's that?" Sam asked.

"She told them that rain was made by angels crying." Hannah continued, "It was really cute, but I don't know where she would get that from."

"Probably something Reason told her because she's bit young to understand the water cycle." Sam guessed.

"Well, it certainly seemed to satisfy the boys." Hannah declared.

Meanwhile, after the proposal mistake, Serena Joy and Rawls wound up making of a dinner of a few rolls they had grabbed on the way out—they _were_ commentary after all—and the nut clusters Serena Joy had got Rawls in the latter's car.

"I can't believe I did that." Serena Joy was saying, as she took another cluster.

"Well, at least the guy who was _actually_ purposing wasn't too sore about it." Rawls reasoned, "And now that couple have an interesting story to tell."

Serena Joy snorted. "Please don't make me laugh about this. I'm not ready yet."

Rawls said nothing for a moment, then said, "Just so this doesn't happen again, know that when I do purpose, it'll be with a ruby."

"A ruby?" Serena Joy repeated "Why?"

"Because, rubies are the gemstones that are truly rare." Rawls told her, "Dimond's are practically as common as dirt. The only reason people think they're rare is because, like, maybe three people own all the mines and restrict the supply so they can jack up the prices. And then to finish off the 'A Diamond Is Forever' campaign came about in 1914, suddenly diamonds are the one true gift of love. But really it's all just - skullduggery. And my girl deserves better than dirt rocks that made it big through skullduggery."

"That is –the most romantic and disturbing thing you have ever said to me." Serena Joy declared.

Suddenly the pair burst laughing good and hard for about a good minute. "I think you're worth more did skullduggerfied dirt rocks as well." Serena Joy said, finally, leaning in for the kiss.

"Is skullduggerfied even a word?" Rawls asked.

"Ah, just shut up and kiss me." Serena Joy responded.

Rawls grinned and did just that.

At Reason's, the kids had talked her into taking turns playing horsie with them, taking turns ridding on her back around the living room and kitchen areas.

"Faster, faster!" Maudie exclaimed, on the back, Cas in between her and Dean.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Reason exclaimed in a happy tone.

That was when they first heard it. Something, something small by the sound of it, rubbing up against the side of the house. They all froze for a moment, but the sound kept up, also accompanied by some sort of strange bleating. "Get off me for a second, okay?"

The children obeyed. "Stay here." She ordered, going to the door, and, picking up a rusty old later she had got working with one hand, and a large stick in the other, she stepped out into the night.

Reason raised the lantern up, shining it's light everywhere. "We don't have anything worth stealing, so just leave before there's a problem!" Still the bleeping continued. Following the sound of it, Reason moved the later, until she saw something on the ground. Doing a double take of the area, she looked down and saw tiny little baby goat, white with black spots.

"What the—" Reason began, dropping the stick and leaning down to pick up the goat. "Anybody lose a goat?!"

After a few moments of no one answering, she thought it was best to get the little guy, or girl, she wasn't sure, inside.

When she got inside, the kids are looked at her. Reason froze. How did she explain this to them? Maudie was used to seeing animals around their home sometimes, but this was new one. "It seems, ah, we have a little visitor." The she revealed the baby goat who let out the most pitiful and adorable bleat.

The toddlers ran to her. "What is it?" Dean asked.

"It's a baby goat." Reason answered. "Be careful, don't crowd it, that might scare it."

Getting one of Maudie's old bottles Reason managed to feed the goat some milk, which she wasn't really sure was the proper thing to give it, but it was her best guest, while the tiny creature was pampered with petting by three toddlers, something it didn't seem to mind, complaining whenever they stopped.

"Where it come from?" Cas asked.

"I don't know, honey, he was out there all by himself." Reason answered.

"Can we keep her?" Maudie asked, as she decided the baby goat was female.

"Baby, someone's probably looking for him—her." Reason replied. That and they did not really have the time or the money to care for a baby farm animal.

"But she can't find them on her home, she just a baby." Maudie protested sadly.

Her daughter had a point there. "Well, she can stay the night and tomorrow we can start putting up posters to let people know we found her." Lebanon was small town. How many people could have a pet goat?

"Okay." Maudie reluctantly agreed, continuing to pet the goat.

At _White Castle_ Sam and Hannah had finished dessert, paid the check and were stepping away from the table, revealing a certain angel was in her stocking feet.

"When did you take off your shoes?" Sam asked.

"About halfway through dinner." Hannah admitted, grabbing her heels from under the table and beginning to put them, "However invented these things deserve all the tortures of the pit."

Getting a wild impulse, Sam declared, "I have a way to fix your problem," the grabbed Hannah up, literally sweeping her off her feet, holding fire-man style.

"What are you doing?!" Hannah exclaimed, startled, but oddly delighted.

"Well, if they hurt your feet that much, you shouldn't have to walk." Sam reasoned, "Just, ah, grab that bag for me, will you?"

Hannah picked up the bag containing the brownies they purchased for the children and their babysitter, then said, "Hold on a minute," and took off her shoes again, "And I don't want to accidently stab anyone."

Sam surprised a laugh, but couldn't help but grin. Of course, she thought of that.

As they got into the parking lot and closer to the Impala, the car's door seemingly opened by themselves.

"You're getting found of that trick, aren't you?" Sam commented, "Just so you know, it's not exactly inconspicuous."

"Neither is carrying someone across a restraunt." Hannah pointed out, "Even I know that."

"True." Sam admitted as he sat her down. That was when it happened.

Sam's switch flipped.

He didn't know what had caused it, but suddenly, he viewed Hannah as more as a friend. He was in love with her. He would do practically anything for her. Suddenly, before he even registered what was he was doing, he was carefully leaning in, as if to kiss her.

"Ah, Sam, what are you doing?" Hannah asked.

That brought him back to reality. Just because he had, had this epiphany didn't mean she did. And if she did have it, it was going to be something new to her, something completely new to her, alien even. Had he done what he almost did he would have likely scared her. If he was going to act on this new information, he was going to have to do it carefully.

"Nothing." Sam lied, shutting the door and going around to the other side.

Eventually the made it to Reason's they were attacked by two excited little boys excitedly telling them about the discovery or a baby goat.

"He _is_ a cute little guy." Sam admitted, stroking the tiny goat.

"She!" Maudie corrected him

"Oh, sorry, I mean _she's_ a cute little guy." Sam went along.

"I figure I'll start looking for whoever she belongs to in the morning." Reason told him.

"Sounds like a plan." Sam agreed, "We, ah, brought some brownies over from the restraunt, just sort of a way to say thank you." He handed her two chocolate dipped brownies on a stick from the bag.

"You really didn't have to do that." Reason told him, "You guys watch my kid practically every day and—" Feeling bad about she did, admitted, "I actually gave them some sweet from the gift box we had left over from—" She lowered her voice, "My other job."

"Does he just pay you in food?" Sam questioned, before getting back on topic, "Well, then, us sugaring up your kid will even things out."

"That works." Reason gave in, taking the brownies. Sensing something off, she asked, "Ah, Sam, are you okay?"

"Ah, yeah." Sam lied, "Just a bit—tired, I guess. Good luck with the kid. Both of them. See you tomorrow, right?"

"See you then." Reason replied, "Thanks. Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day." Sam repeated as they headed out the door.

As the family left, Reason got the strangest urge to call Serena Joy.


	36. Dark Sides, The Wild West And Rose Leave

"Hey, Nell," Sam greeted the sectary at the pet-sitting service as he walked out of the kennels, headed up by about seven dogs.

Nell's face was furrowed at something on the scream in disgust.

"Hey, everything, okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I just found this horrible article online." Nell explained, "This poor man was tortured by some intruder in his own home. Next door neighbor got the suspect on tape but—she can't be more than a hundred pounds. Come see."

Sam looked down and saw a video of a red-headed woman wailing on some guy in the middle of his lawn. A red-headed woman he was shocked to find he recognized.

Just then, a teenager with long strawberry blonder hair covered with a yellow hat came out with her own set of dogs. Sam ran to her. "Hey, Georgia, I'm sorry, I need a favor…"

"So, wait, your friend, who's been gone for over a year in one of the fairy realms, came back, didn't tell you despite apparently being somewhat close you, but attacks a random district attorney?" Hannah summarized as Sam was franticly packing.

"And according to the article he wasn't the only person she hit." Sam answered, grabbing a badge, "A court stenographer was attacked the night before. But that Charlie I knew wouldn't hurt a Hobbit. The girl practically sparkled. But I can't ask her what's going on because she's not answering her phone!" After taking a breath, he said, "I'm sorry, Hannah, but I have to go. I have to figure out what's going on."

Maybe it was what happened the last time he went on a hunt, maybe it was because this person had already done horrible things to two people, but the thought of him going alone made her uneasy. "I should go with you. The fairy realms are practically the wild west, and who knows if Charlie is even Charlie anymore…"

"Someone has to stay where with the boys." Sam pointed out.

"We can leave them with Reason, Topeka's in the same state, we can get back fairly quickly if something happened and one of us had to come back." Hannah reasoned.

"Alright, then I don't want you being in danger." Sam countered, "One of us has to stay alive for the kids." That and the thought of her in harm's way terrified him.

"Sam, I'm an angel, remember?" Hannah reminded him, "We're pretty sturdy." She knew that wasn't a guarantee, but she was hopping Sam would forget that for the moment, unlikely as that was.

"But you said yourself, she just came from the other side of the fence." Sam argued, "Who really knows what we're dealing with?"

"Which again, why you shouldn't go alone." Hannah countered, leaning back against the wall and folding her arms.

That was when Sam thought of something that might end the argument. "This could mean leaving the boys with a sitter for multiple days and nights, and we've never done that before."

Hannah paused for a moment. That was true. But…" I'm willing to take that risk if it means their father coming back alive."

That was when Sam realized how scared she was for him. "Then I'll call another hunter, or—" Sam began, then sighed, "Alright, start making calls."

When they got to Topeka, they eventually were able to piece together a bit of what was going on. All of Charlie's victims were involved in the trail of the drunk driver that killed Charlie's parents, or lack thereof. Apparently, she went after stenographer for the name of the district attorney who was supposed to prosecute the case, who apparently after who was apparently payed off at time to stop looking into why the case was dismissed and the files sealed. Eventually he revealed that he gave up the councilwoman who bribed him to Charlie.

Apparently, the woman knew she was next as when they got there she was packed to leave. "Barbara Cordy?" Sam asked when she answered the door.

"Can I help you?" She asked, confirming her identity.

"We have some questions about a drunk-driving case from a while back involving the Middleton family." Sam answered, which technically was true.

The woman got the deer in the headlight look. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Ma'am, if we could just—" Hannah began.

Barbara was already shutting the door. "Sorry. I'm still on vacation. Feel free to schedule an appointment with my assistant. She'll pencil you both in." And with that she shut the door in their faces.

With that failed, they had no choice but to stake out Barbara's house.

Hannah was peering out the passenger side window when and Sam was looking through Charlie's file from when she was a kid and the phone rang. "It's Serena." Hannah said, looking at the caller ID. Reason had warned the, that she would have to leave them with Serena Joy at one point during the night. Putting on speaking, she immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Momma." Serena Joy assured her and they could both swear they could hear her smirking through the phone, "The boys just wanted to know if they could they up pass bedtime to help me finish this wedding order."

Hannah and Sam exchanged looks. "Is Reason letting Maudie stay up to help?" Sam asked, as he didn't want to cause a riff between the three by giving them a privilege she was denied. Plus, it could cause trouble for Reason later.

"She says if it's okay with you, it's okay with her." Serena Joy answered.

"Can we Daddy?" Dean could be heard asking over the phone, Cas following up with a "Please?"

"And they're _actually_ helping you?" Hannah spoke up, as she wasn't sure how three toddlers could really help with baking.

"Yeah, Maudie's sprinkle the sugar on the cookies, Cas is handing me things and Dean's stirring that filling like a pro." Serena Joy summarized, "Oh, Dean did eat a little apricot paste and got Cas to try it too, they've decided they do not like apricot. Still, it's kinda nice having my little baking minions."

In spite of themselves, Hannah smiled at the comment and Sam laughed. "Alright, your baking minions can stay up. But they have to go to bead as you as you guys finish, okay?"

"Thank you! "All three children called out into the phones.

"Yeah, you're welcome." Sam responded, "Sorry, but we have to go guys. Love you."

"Love you!" The boys chimed back before handing up.

That was when they heard a crash and scream from inside the house. The hunter and angel lept from the car, bursting into the house where they found Charlie cornering Barbara in the living room with the knife.

"Should have known—" Charlie began, but than her voice trailed off when she realized it wasn't exactly Sam and Dean, "Wait, what's with the change in the roster? Who's she?"

While she was caught off guard Hannah reached to grab her, only to get a kick in the stomach. "Not gonna be that easy, whoever you are." Charlie told her, going in for a punch.

Hannah dogged the blow, but then Charlie grabbed the angel by her hair. Hannah grabbed the redhead's now short smooth locks as well and they both wound up on the grown. Sam jumped into the fray and well, and they were a mess of arms and legs on the floor. Somehow Hannah was able to touch Charlie, rendering her unconious. "Check on her why I put this one in trunk?" She asked, gesturing to Barbara.

Sam nodded, then helped Barbara up from when she had fallen in the ground during the scuffle. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Barbara answered.

"What did she say to you?" Sam asked.

"She—she just—she wanted the bank statements." Barbara got out.  
That was when Hannah called out, "Ah, Sam, does Charlie have a twin sister? An identical one?"

"No." Sam answered, "Why?"

"You—might want to come here and see." Hannah called back.

Sam came out and saw a yellow VW parked next to the Impala, Sam got closer he could see _another_ Charlie inside the car, this one dressed in brightly clothing, and wavier hair, also unconscious.

"What the—" Sam began, getting VW's door open and starting to gently shake the other Charlie. "Charlie?" Sam asked, "Charlie! Wake up."

The Charlie and the VW finally awoke with a start, looking around as awful pounding started from the trunk of the Impala. "Oh, hi Sam." The Charlie currently not in the trunk greeted him once she realized what was going on, "Um, we should probably catch up."

And so, as they drove back to Lebanon, because, they weren't sure what else to do, Charlie, well, one Charlie, explained everything.

"There are two of you—one good and one…bad?" Sam recapped when she was done, still confused, "O-okay. Hold on. Back up. I was there for Dorothy, Oz, the yellow brick road. B-but then…"

"Wat." Charlie cut him off, "The war for Emerald city. It was awesome. Until not so much. We were gonna lose, so I made the deal with the wizard…of Oz. Wears a hood and a creepy mask, kind of a jerk—good times. He said for us to win, I had to unleash my true darkness, which he meant literally. He used the inner key of Oz. It opens a door to your soul and let the darkness out. Uh, we're still connected physically. If you hurt her you hurt me. And apparently if you knock her out you knock me out, which, kudos on that, she's _is_ sorta badass. But bottom line, she's good, I'm bad."

"See?" Hannah spoke up, "What did I tell you? Wild west."

"And let me just tell you being good-like only good-is really annoying." Charlie replied, "Like I can't even hack anymore because every time I start, I start thinking it's bad and run from the key board."

Sam and Hannah just exchanged looks. "Okay, uh…good Charlie." Sam began. They had differentiated between the somehow, didn't thing? "So why is dark Charlie gunning for revenge?"

"She's trying to win me back." Good Charlie answered, "Dark Charlie one the war single handedly. But…she did some truly awful things. But I told her I didn't any part of her near me again, ever. Going after the person who mur—mur—uh…" She couldn't even get the world out. So, she changed it. "Who took my parents away is her messed up way of showing me how closer we are, or—or could be. I keep calling her 'she' but she's me. I'm the one doing this."

"No, it's not." Hannah spoke up, "Look, Charlie, can I call you that? I know we just met but Sam to me a lot about you and what the woman currently trying to rip her way out of the trunk did doesn't sound like you."

"No, it's me." Charlie objected, "A twisted version of me, but still me. I've been following her so I can catch her before she does something stupid and—lock her away forever."

"Uh, Charlie?" Sam began, knowing that wasn't a good idea, "That's not that answer. I mean, she may be…dark, but she's still a part of you."

Just then dark Charlie's struggling in the back reached a fever pitch, so much that whole car started to shake, and they could hear her cursing them out.

"Plus, we're barely keeping her continued for a few hours in the car." Hannah pointed out, "How do you expect to keep her contained forever?"

"Yeah, you restrained her, right?" Sam asked.

"And removed most of the weapons." Hannah confirmed.

"You're both right." Charlie admitted, "I hate it, but you're right. There's another problem, though. Dark me broke the key to Oz. There's no way to get back to the wizard."

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks again. "Okay," Sam began, "Maybe there's something in the Men of Letter's files about the key. If we can fix it, you can get back to Oz."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Charlie agreed.

"Bringing someone who is basically psychopath to the place where our children live." Hannah snarked, "Great."

That took Charlie by complete surprised. "I'm sorry—children?" Charlie asked, "How long have I been gone?!"

They spent most of the card ride updating Charlie on everything she had missed.

"Do you need any help with that?" Sam asked, as he and good Charlie watched Hannah carried dark Charlie in a burlap sack, through the bunker.

"It's alright, I got it." Hannah assured them, "Unless I'm hurting her." She gestured to good Charlie.

"I'm fine." Good Charlie assured her, "Just a little sore."

"I'll work on being gentler." Hannah responded, "Sam, I can never remember, which was is the dungeon again?"

After giving Hannah directions to the dungeon to stash dark Charlie, and good Charlie set to work going through the files, looking for anything related to Oz.

"Okay, here we go." Sam declared, once he had found something, "Clive Dillion. He is the first Man of Letter who discovered the key to Oz. So, according to the incident report, Clive went to Oz, but he left the key on Earth, and then L. Frank Baum found the key and went to rescue Clive in Oz."

"Then Dorothy snucked along for the ride and got stuck there." Charlie summarized.

"Right." Sam replied, "And then after Baum rescued Clive, Clive came back and retired."

"You can retire from the Men of Letters?" Charlie asked, as she wasn't really expecting that.

"Well, apparently, they put him in some sort of, like, uh, witness-relocation program." Sam explained.

"Where did he end up?" Charlie asked.

"Let's find out." Sam responded, starting to look through the files again.

Meanwhile, Hannah was off in another hall, checking on the kids.

"And you're sure they're all okay?" She was asking.

"Yeah, your boys are socked out on one couch, Maudie on the other." Serena Joy confirmed, "Baking took a lot out of them."

"And Cas has Coat?" Hannah asked, "If he loses that thing, he gets really upset."

"I know, I was there when he broke the window." Serena Joy confirmed, "Yeah, he's got his little fist wrapped around it for dear life. I can send you a picture if you want."

"No, my phone wouldn't get it." Hannah responded, "And you're sure that you are the only four people in the house?"

"Yes, and just to assure you I looked everywhere." Serena Joy replied.

"I'm sorry." Hannah told her, as even she knew she was being a bit obsessive. Serena Joy didn't even have an upstairs.

"Hey, it's alright." Serena Joy tried to assured her, "This is you kids we're talking about here, plus, you're dealing with a situation. If you don't mind me asking, what _is_ the situation? Everyone's been a little vague."

"To make a somewhat long story short we're trying to put friend's bad and good halves back together because she had to unleash her darkness to win a war in the wild west and said darkness went on a rampage through our world." Hannah explained.

There was silence for a moment Serena Joy said, "You know, sometimes you say things and I seriously question what I'm doing with my life."

Just then there was thumbing noise from somewhere the bunker.

"Serena, I have to go." Hannah told her, "I think the dark half might be trying to escape."

"I've read that book." Serena Joy responded, " _Go._ Before it's too late. Don't worry, I'll call if they need you."

"Thanks." Hannah responded, and with they both hung up.

Finally, Sam and Charlie found what they were looking for.

"The Men of Letters gave Clive a new name, a new house, both of which are still listed." Good Charlie summarized, "I think Clive might still be alive."

"Y-well, he'd like 100-something." Sam pointed out.

"Time passes differently in Oz." Good Charlie explained, "It's close by. Let's go look. If he's still kicking, he is the only person who might be able to fix the key to Oz."

"Alright, I'll let Hannah know what we're doing and then let's get dark you and go." Sam responded.

"Okay." Charlie agreed.

And so, with dark Charlie stuffed back into the sack and stored back in the trunk in case they needed to move quickly and there was no time to go back and get her, the trio drove to Junction City.

A few seconds after ringing the door bell, the door was open by a man who did not appear to be in his hundreds, maybe sixties or seventies. "Hello?" He asked when he saw the motley crew on his door step.

"Clive Dillon?" Good Charlie asked.

"No." The man responded, "My name is—"

"Michael Carter, right." Sam cut him off, "But it was Clive Dillion, wasn't it? Back in the Men of Letters. Back in Oz."

Clive still tried to deny it. "You seem confused. There's no Clive Dillon here. And Oz? That's just a fairy tale. It's best left on the bookshelves where it belongs."

"So, you've never seen this before?" Hannah spoke up as good Charlie held out half of the broken key to Oz.

Clive finally gave in. "I think you better come in."

Good Charlie sat across from Clive and Sam and Hannah stood, looking around, as they explained the situation.

"The six Keys of Oz were forged with Oz steel." Clive told them when they had finished, "They can only be repaired in that magical realm."

"So, there's no going back?" Good Charlie asked, devastated, as this had been her last hope, "I can't put my darkness away."

"I'm sorry." Clive told her sincerely.

Sam, however, wasn't ready to give up so easily. "What happened to you in Oz?"

"It's in my report. "Clive replied.

"Your report just says you were kidnapped." Sam countered, "By whom?"

"Bad people." Clive answered simply.

"No offensive, sir, but we already figured that much." Hannah spoke up.

That was when good Charlie spoke up as well. "I know that look. You're lying. And lying is—"

"-Bad." Clive finished for her, "Yes, I know. What happened to you, my dear, happened to me."

Charlie still didn't understand. "What?"

"A coven of witches grabbed me." Clive explained, "They used the inner key on me, unleashed my ID. He was awful. He killed all the witches and went int a tantrum. Was power hungry, crazy. Became the wizard of Oz."

Sensing Hannah about to say something, Sam whispered, "Hannah, please don't say 'wild west'."

"Well, what else would you call this?" Hannah whispered back.

Meanwhile, Good Charlie was silently panicking. "Frank's daughter, Dorothy, runs Emerald City now. The wizard, dark you, are right by her side. If—if-if she's in trouble—"

"Well, without the key to Oz, there's no way we can get back to wizard." Clive recapped, trying to work out the problem in his head, "But…there may well be a way…to summon him here." Clive got up and walked over to a drawer, pulling a gun out, "If I mortally, he'll have to come back here to save us both."

Realizing what that meant, good Charlie protested, "Wait, wait, wait. There has to be another way."

"What he has done is my fault." Clive declared, "After all, he is me and I am him, so…Maybe it's time both of us answered for our sins. It's the good thing to do, right? Right?"

All was silent for a minute. "Right." Charlie reluctantly agreed.

"Wait, a minute." Sam spoke up, "You said there were five other keys, right?"

"Yes, if we just find one of them—" Hannah began, seeing where Sam was going.

"We couldn't fine on in time to help her friend." Clive told them, "And as far as I know, that key is the only one in our world." And so, Clive put the gun to his chest. "Aah!" He screamed as he fired, hitting the ground.

Suddenly, a mirror on the wall started to glow green. It shattered outward, causing everyone to hurry out of the way, and out stepped a man dressed in long black robes, his face covered with a mask with a long, curved, pointed beak.  
It was Clive's evil half. The Wizard of Oz.

The Wizard looked down at his better half in disgust. "What have you done, you fool?!"

Sam aimed his gun at the wizard, only to have it pulled from his hands. The wizard then attacked Sam, proceeding tie Sam up with Ozian ropes where still berating Clive, "You had one task—" However, his voice trailed off as he was thrown across the room by an unseen force.

Hannah ran over to Sam and started to untie him. "Did he hurt you?"

"No." Sam responded, getting to his feet, "But you probably shouldn't have done that. The words of certain leprechaun who scoffed at the idea of angels being the final authority in magic ran through his head. _Angels. Please. I'm talking about real magic, sonny. From my side of fence…_

"Sam, I know Clive's dark side has power, but at the end of the day he's still just a jumped up—" Hannah's voice trailed off as felt her airway constrict and she discovered she _did_ in fact need to breathe at least to certain extent, buckling.

"No!" Sam scream, grabbing her, "Not her! "

"Your friend tried to play the hero and save you." The Wizard told him coolly, "And you know what happens to heroes? They die."

Suddenly Sam felt his airway close up as well as he was basically force-chocked, falling to the ground. This was all his fault. He never should had let Hannah talk him into letting her come with him. Now they were both going to die and he never even got to tell her how he felt about her and their sons were going to be orphans _again_ and…

Doing the only thing she could think to do, Charlie took the two halves of the key and crawled over to Clive while the Wizard was distracted and lay the halves on Clive's chest. "Open your soul." She whispered.

"What?" Clive rasped.

"Look, just try it, please?" Charlie pleaded, "I don't think I can get to the gun, this is our best option, but we have to do it while he's busy."

Closing his eyes, Clive opened his soul.

Feeling something happening the wizard froze. "No." He gasped, "No, no, no—" He was cut off as he was very forcefully pulled back into Clive, clothes and all, leaving one Clive Dillon still bleeding out on the floor.

Sam and Hannah could breathe again, taking gulps of air before managing to crawl their way to each other, Sam practically pulling the angel into his lap as he asked, "Hey, you okay?"

Hannah nodded, but she was shaking. She had come close to death a couple of times, but that…that was a new.

"Hey." Sam soothed, "It's okay. I got you. It's okay, it's okay…"

"Ah, not to be a b-word, but, we, ah, could use some healing hands over here." Charlie informed.

After they healed Clive, the group went outside and Sam and Hannah pulled dark Charlie out of the trunk.

"How are you feeling?" Charlie asked Clive as they stood on.

"Oddly enough—whole." Clive answered, "I mean, I feel somewhat sick, but whole. And you my dear?"

"Scared as heck." Charlie admitted, "I mean, I know we have to put her back in, especially since we're cut off from Oz, but-"

"None of us can truly run from out dark side." Clive told her, "Letting our better natures win out over it is another matter."

"Okay," Sam called out, "I think we're ready over here."

Charlie carefully laid down on the ground next to dark Charlie, who was out of the sack, but still bound, and her mouth still covered with a white rag.

"Hmm-mmm mmmm-mmm." Dark Charlie tried to get out.

"What?" Good Charlie balked, reaching out and pulling down the gag in spite of herself.

"You did it, didn't you?" Dark Charlie began, "You killed the wizard."

"How did you—" Good Charlie began.

"Heard some of what was being said, some I felt from you." Dark Charlie answered, "I knew it. The magic was in you all the time. Celeste."

Clive narrowed his eyes in confusion and Hannah whispered to him, "Charlie's real name, apparently."

"Do me a favor, will ya?" Dark Charlie requested, "When we're one person, finish what I started. If not my way, then at least—your way." She hated it as she said, but it was pretty clear she was going back into Charlie. And maybe that wasn't so bad.

"Deal." Charlie replied, taking the key pieces from Sam. Good Charlie opened her soul and dark Charlie was willingly sucked back in.

"You okay?" Sam asked, helping her to her feet.

"Yeah." Charlie answered, before grinning at Sam, "Thank I can meet those kids of yours now?"

Sam grinned back at her letting out a revealed sigh. "Of course."

Charlie waited as the bunker while Sam and Hannah went to go get the kids. "Okay." Sam said as they walked down the stairs, "This is the lady Daddy wanted you to meet. This is Miss Charlie. Charlie, this is Dean and Castiel." Well, she had already met Dean before, just not in this form, but she never met Cas.

Charlie squealed as Dean ran up to her and scooped him up in a hug.

Cas however, first hid behind Hannah's legs and when that proved not to be enough cover, Sam's.

"Cas is our shy child." Sam explained.

"Don't worry about it, little guy." Charlie assured him, reaching out behind Sam's leg and ruffling his hair, "I was a little shy too when I was little."

"Do you want a cookie?" Dean spoke up.

"Cookie?" Charlie repeated, confused.

"Our friend was catering a wedding but someone, ah…pulled an end of _The Graduate._ "Sam explained, hopping the boys wouldn't ask what that meant, "So, ah, now we have one tear of Chabela wedding cake, and a dozen or so cookies." Getting an idea, Sam got out one of the cream-colored flowered shaped cookies, decorated red sugar sprinkles, and handed it to Cas, "Hey, hand this to Miss Charlie and there's one in it for you."

Cas tenetively walked over to Charlie. Hopping it would make her less intimidating, Charlie crouched down so she was about as tall as he was. "Thanks, Cas." She said, taking it and putting it in her mouth, which filled with a floral taste, made mildly sweet by sugar. "Is that…roses?"

"There rose leaves." Dean explained.

"Rose _leaves?"_ Charlie repeated.

"Thant's what they call them in Egypt." Cas spoke up.

"Really?" Charlie responded, somewhat genuinely interested, "Tell me more."

And, so after explaining the back story of the rose petal leaf cookie, the trio got to playing which eventually wound up behind table, hiding from two plastic dinosaurs.

"Sssh." Charlie hissed gently, putting a finger to her lips.

Dean, however, had another idea, and, grabbing his numb-chucks and ran out, shouting what he thought was fearsome battle cry, ran out and hit the dinosaurs until they fell to the ground.

"Well." Charlie shrugged, "That works."

Charlie playing with the boys gave Sam and Hannah a chance to talk.

Well, for a while they just sat there in tense silence with a white-iced cake between into Sam finally just said, "Okay, just say it."

"I want you to get a new partner." Hannah announced.

"What?" Sam responded, "Sorry, it's just…that's not what I thought you were going to say."

"What did you think I was going to say?" Hannah asked.

"That you want me to stop hunting all together." Sam answered.

"Well, you basically have." Hannah replied, "I mean, apart from the tiger, this is the first hunt you've been on in months, and you were almost killed on both of those, and the only thing that saved you was having someone else there."

"True, but getting a new partner, is easier said than done." Sam replied.

"Maybe not." A voice said behind them.

They both turned to see Charlie standing in the doorway.

"Look, there's no going back to Oz." Charlie reasoned, "And with the wizard gone, Dorothy will be fine. And you got people to look after. The point is, you need help on something, give me a call, I'll be there."

"Thanks Charlie." Sam replied sincerely.

"Yes, thank you." Hannah repeated gratefully.

"Don't sweat it, guys." Charlie smiled back at them.

"So, this mean no more adventure?" Sam quipped.

"I think we have all the adventure we can handle right here." Charlie replied, speaking of which, want to watch the kids throw a ring into a volcano?"

The ring was small sliver of paper tapped in a circle, and the volcano was a circle made out of blocks.

"You want to do the honors, guys?" Charlie asked them.

Dean and Cas each grabbed a side of the ring and threw it into volcano and all the adults cheered.

"So, Sam says you just got back from some sort of…war?" Reason asked the next day, sitting down at the table with Charlie when she came to drop Maudie off.

"Yeah, in Oz." Charlie answered.

"Oz?" Reason repeated, "That's actually a place?"

"Yeah, but it's not exactly like the books." Charlie told her, "By a long shot."

"Okay, then…." Reason responded. After a beat she added, "I'm so sorry, I'm asking you all these questions…."

"No, it's alright." Charlie assured her, "You go to drop your kid off and there's this complete stranger there of course you're going to give them the third degree."

That was when Maudie wondered into the kitchen. "Do you know Edith?" She asked.

Charlie looked from the little girl to her mother. "Ah, who's Edith?"

"One of my co-workers at the diner." Reason explained.

"You have Edith's hair." Maudie informed Charlie.

"Edith's hair?" Charlie wondered, before realizing, "Oh, you mean red." She took a clump of her hair and held it out.

"Yes." Maudie confirmed nodding.

"Sorry, honey, I don't know Edith." Charlie told her, "Not all redheads know each other. Maybe one day."

Later on, Dean found a book in Charlie's things. "What dat?" Maudie asked, huddled next to Dean with Cas.

"This is a book I liked as a kid." Charlie answered, taking it back.

"It looks thick." Cas noted.

"Well, it's not a long as it could be." Charlie reasoned, flipping through it.

That was when Dean noticed something. "Where the pictures?"

"It doesn't have any, you just have to imagine it." Charlie explained.

"How do you that?" Cas asked.

"Frist you close your eyes." Charlie instructed.

The toddlers did, waiting to learn the trick.

Charlie opened the book and began to read. "In the hole in the ground lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor a dry, bare sandy hole with nothing in it to sit on, or to eat. It was hobbit-hole and that meant comfort…"

"Why do you have to go?" Dean asked while he, Cas and Maudie, all hugged her.

"Because I have some things I have to do." Charlie explained, hugging them all back.

"We could help." Cas offered, as he had warmed up to the young woman.

"Ah, that is so sweet of you, but this is something I have to do on my own." Charlie told them, before standing up, "But first I need to go talk to your dad, okay?"

"Okay." Dean and Cas reluctantly agreed.

Charlie and Sam walked off into the kitchen. "Okay, what did you want to talk about?"

"You love her, don't you?" Charlie asked.

"What are you talking about Charlie?" Sam responded.

"Hannah." Charlie specified, "You. Love. Her."

Seeing no point in denying it, Sam sighed, "I just—I don't know how to tell her. I know—juvenile that might sound, but—"

"Her species isn't all that good with emotion?" Charlie guessed.

"Yeah." Sam confirmed, nodding.

"I'd give her a little more credit." Charlie commented, before going in for a hug, "And you never know if you don't _try_. I know it's complicated, but I like the idea of you getting your happily ever after."

"Thanks Charlie." Sam said, as they broke the embrace, "Hey, what did you mean back there? What something?"

"I'm going to finish what dark Charlie started." Charlie explained, "But my way. No torture, not murder." After a beat she added, "Yes, I know this could get emotional, and I promise I'll call if it gets too much. Until then, arrivedci, bitches. Don't do anything I wouldn't do.

"Back at you." Sam agreed, "Just—please don't say that in front of the kids."

About a week and a half, some leg work, some hacking and few phone calls with a lot of crying later, Sam saw in the news where a real estate agent was arrest on a 16-year-old vehicular manslaughter charge and numerous bribery and obstruction counts. About a year later he was convicted on most of the charges. (Some of the evidence obtained through dark Charlie's shenanigans got thrown out.)

But on that night, as Sam headed to his room after watching the boys sleep for a while, and getting some laundry done, he found large stack of papers and books on his bead.

"What the-?" Sam began, picking up the first book, finding a copy of _The Hobbit_ with a post-it notes on saying, _We were on chapter five._

Sam laughed a little, then looked at the other note stuck to the book that was on top of the stack of papers. It read, _might be over stepping but though these might help._

He started looking through the papers finding everything from old _Cosmo_ article on how to romance a partner, to the lyric to 'That's How You Know' from _Enchanted._ At last he peeled the post-it off the second book and saw the whole title: _How to Write a Love Letter._

A lightbulb went off in Sam's head. It was old-fashioned and probably a bit unessacary since, they lived in the same house, but it just might work. He opens the book to the first page: _LOVE LETTERS-THE UNLOST ART…._


	37. Two Incidents At Aldis

**AN: Okay, I have no clue if this store chain exists outside my area, but for the sake of this chapter can we just say it does and that Lebanon has one?**

 **Also, quick warning, a lot of adult fear and mood whiplash in this chapter.**

It all started when Reason couldn't find a quarter for a shopping cart.

Taking her change purse, a pale pink leather bag she had decorated to look like a pig's face back in the day, she started taking out dollars and cents and found dimes, pennies a few nickels, but no quarter. "Come on, come on." She murmured to herself, pulling out practically everything the diminutive purse. Maybe she could put two dimes in a nickel in the slot and make it work…

That was when someone held out quarter saying, "Here." Reason looked up to see a woman with hair done in a soft blonde bob. She was wearing a dark blue dress suit with matching heels.

"Oh, thank you." Reason beamed, taking quarter and sticking in the lock, freeing the cart and allowing her to pull it out.

As Reason lifted Maudie and put her into the cart the woman commented, "Well, aren't you the cutest little thing. How old is she?"

"Oh, she'll be three in a few weeks." Reason replied, thinking the woman was just making conversation then addressed her daughter, "Maudie, what do you say?"

"Fank you." Maudie responded, peeking from where she had decided to hide her face.

The woman smiled at Maudie. "Aw, you're welcome, sweetie. Well, I better get going."

"Same here." Reason replied, and with that they both took their carts and went into the store.

Going down the aisle where they had crackers and cookies and chocolate, glancing over the offerings briefly, and arrived at the dairy cooler. Opening the door, Reason took a small jug of milk and sat it down. Briefly looking at it, she pulled out her purse and began counting again, doing the math in her head to figure out if she had enough for an extra jug of milk. No one had come forward yet to claim the goat, so they were still needed to feed it. That was when she caught the woman who had gave her the quarter out of the corner of her eye. However, _Aldi_ was rather small store and you could, and she regularly did, cross paths with the same person serval times, so she didn't really think anything sinister of it, and decided, yes, she could spring for the extra milk, placed in the cart, an went to look for rice.

"Hey, baby, have you thought about what you want for your birthday?" Reason asked, making conversation to keep Maudie occupied as she looked for what they needed.

"Uh-huh." Maudie responded, nodding, "Yeah, I want a bank."

"A bank?" Reason repeated, somewhat confused.

"Yeah, like Mommy's fish bank." Maudie elaborated.

Now Reason knew what she was talking about. The dolphin bank that Reason kept up in the cabinet along with a dozen or so mason jars and tins instead of a bank account. It was something Maudie associated with maturity.

"Well, I don't know if I can get you bank _exactly_ like Mommy's but I'm sure we can find _something…"_ Reason smiled.

"Yay!" Maudie cheered.

Neither of them noticed the blue-clad woman coming up behind them, with only a box of crackers in her cart.

A couple of isles later Reason had most of what they needed, and Maudie was contently singing, "8675309, 8675309…" The song had been playing over the speakers and the toddler seemed to have the refrain memorized.

"Do you even know what that means, Maudie?" Reason asked, turning to pick up a can.

Instead of the nonsensical answer she was expecting, Reason heard a distressed cry of "Mommy!"

Alarmed, Reason whirled around to see the woman who gave her the quarter, the woman who had been following them throughout the store, running off with Maudie, who tried to scream again but was stopped by the woman pressing her face into her chance.

" _Abi! "_ Reason shouted, throwing her hands out in front of her, flinging the would-be kidnapper so hard into the sleeves it nearly toppled over, and most of items in spot she hit fell from the shelves, and causing her drop Maudie.

 _Oh no!_ Reason though, rushing to her child, _Dear Lord, please don't let my baby be hurt._ Getting on her knees in front of Maudie, she helps the crying child to her feet while she asked urgently, "Are you hurt baby?"

Maudie shook her head, sobbing two hard to make articulate any other response.

"Come here." Reason said, pulling Maudie into an embrace, "It's alright, it's alright, I got you, Mommy's here."

"Mommy." Maudie whimpered as she buried her face into the young woman's chest, "Oh Mommy—"

"Shhh, Maudie." Reason soothed, swallowing the hard lump in her throat at just how close she had come to losing her daughter and at hearing how terrified the little girl was. She pulled her arms tighter around the small body. It's okay, baby. You're okay now."

"That lady—" Maudie's words were muffled against her mother's shirt, "I didn't want to go—I didn't—"

"I know, honey." Reason assured her, "On the edge of tears herself now, "I know."

That was when two of the store employees came running to see came running up to find out what in the world was going on, accompted by several shoppers who had come either to help or to gawk. "What happened here?" One of the employees, an older man, demanded.

Suddenly Reason felt a terrible rage boiling inside her as she got to her feet, holding Maudie. "What happened is," She seethed, managing to pull off one of her arms to point at the woman, who, in shock, was still trying to get herself off the ground, "That _hussy_ tried to _kidnap_ my daughter!" She thought she was going to be sick just saying the word.

The man walked up to woman, who managed to get to her feet. "That true?"

Dusting herself off, the woman froze for a moment. She hadn't expected to actually be caught. At last she said, "Of course not…in fact, that's _my_ daughter, she's the one who just ripped her from the cart." She marched up to Reason, trying to take Maudie.

Maudie immediately started screaming again. "No! She's not my Mommy! Don't let her take me Mommy! Don't let— "

"It's alright, baby." Reason soothed, taking a few steps back, "I won't let her take you."

"I think that settles that." A woman in the back of the group spoke up.

"No, it doesn't." The woman argued, not giving up, "Sweetie, why would you say such horrible lies?"

The woman in the back spoke up again. "What's her name?"

The woman froze a moment.

"Maud." Reason answered quickly, "Maud Elizabeth McCarthy. Born March 10th, 2012, Mercy Hospital—"

Just then the manager, a woman in her mid-thirties with wavy hair and dark framed glasses, "Frank, Alex, what's exactly happened here?"

"This woman is saying this woman tried to kidnap her daughter, and this woman is trying to say it's hers, but, honestly, I'd say the first one is telling the truth." The older man, Frank, explained.

"Me, too." The manager agreed, "I see them here all the time." Then leading over to the younger employee, she whispered, "Alex, go call the cops, tell them we had an attempting kidnapping."

As they were talking, the would-be kidnapper, deciding to quit while she was ahead, tried to slip away while everyone was distracted.

Reason was _not_ about to let that happen. Whispering the spell under her breath, the woman was thrown against the selves, causing more product to fall.

The employees and customers were able to hold the woman until the police got there, and when they got there, they had a lot of question.

"I heard Maudie calling for me, and when I looked that woman, was-was- "Reason could barely get the words out as the police took her statement.

"It's alright, Miss, take your time." The young police man taking her statement told her.

"She was running off with Maudie, so I ran after her and shoved into the self." Reason finally got out, "I know I could've hurt Maudie but I didn't know what else to do."

That was when a back Impala and blue Nova pulled up, and Hannah burst out of one and Serena Joy the other somehow managing to get past the cops and to Reason. "Are you two alright?" Hannah asked about the same time Serena Joy asked, "What happened?"

"Some nut job grabbed Maudie right out of the cart." Reason exclaimed.

Hannah audibly gasped and Serena Joy asked, "What?"

"That woman over there." Reason elaborated, pointing to where the woman was berating the cops putting her in the back of the police car, "Tried to kidnap Maudie. She followed us in the store and just—grabbed her when I wasn't looking."

Hannah covered her mouth and Serena Joy moaned, "Oh my God." Then realizing what she had said and who she said it front of, "Sorry."

Unable to take not knowing what was going on, Sam began to get out of the car. "Stay here." Sam told the boys, who they had no choice but to bring, then realizing they were in car seats after all thought, _like you have a choice._

"How did you guys even know we were here?" Reason asked, still holding onto Maudie.

"Let's just say Hannah caught chatter on the scanner." Serena Joy answered.

"Oh." Reason responded.

"Mommy, can we go home now?" Maudie asked softly. Her face was still red from crying she looked exhausted.

Reason looked to the officer for permission.

"I know you've been through a lot today, but can you hold on for just a few more moments, sweetie?" The officer asked very gently.

Maudie, usually rather biddable, shook her head and buried her face into her mother's chance moaning, "I wanna go home."

Sam was halfway to the when it happen.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about." The woman was ranting in the back of the police car, "The girl would've been off with me than with that white trash over there!" She diblerately said the last part so that Reason could hear it.

Suddenly Serena Joy was seeing red. "You want to repeat that, you Georgia Tam wannabe?" She seethed, actually taking out her earrings and beginning to march over to the car when Reason grabbed her arm.

"Serena, please." She whispered, on the edge of tears.

"She-she's not getting away with saying that you." Serena Joy argued, "Not after what she did."

"Serena, please, you'll make things worse." Reason insisted weakly.

Everyone was so focused on Serena Joy, no one notice Hannah slip off, marching over to the police car with an air of determination, going for something in her jacket.

Everyone except Sam, who met her halfway, and grabbed her by arm. "Hannah, no." He whispered, "You cannot take justice into your own hands, especially in front of bunch of cops and three children."

Hannah took the hand off the blade in her jacket. "Sorry." She conceded, realizing he was right, "When she said that horrible thing after—"

"Yeah, she's going to get hers." Sam assured her, turning her around and leading her away as she murmured something in Echonian that he decided he didn't even want to know what it meant.

"You know what?" The officer taking Reason's statement way saying, "I have just about everything I need here, we can finish this later."

"Thank you so much officer." Reason replied gratefully, getting up.

"Come on," Serena Joy told the younger woman, guiding her to the car, "I'll you a ride home."

"Thanks." Reason responded, sounding exhausted.

"No problem, kid." Serena Joy replied, opening the door for her.

After the girls left Sam realized something. "Hey, did she actually get the groceries she came for?"

"What do you think?" Frank responded.

Sam put his hands in his pocket, going for his wallet. "What did she have?"

A few days later, Reason was mopping the floor with one eye on Maudie, who was playing under the pinball machine, when she heard the dinner door open. She didn't think anything of it until she finished and was putting the bucket up and saw Hannah crouched down by the pinball machine, talking to Maudie. Walking up to them, Reason began, "Hey."

Hannah turned around. "Hey. I'm sorry, it's just, I saw you were busy, so I thought I should wait—"

"Non, no, it's okay." Reason assured her, then gesturing over to a booth said, "Here, sit down."

As they sat down, Hannah explained, "I want wanted to check on you, since we haven't much from since—well, you know."

"Yeah." Reason responded, awkwardly.

"Maudie, seems to be doing well, all things considered." Hannah noted, "Is she?"

Reason was silent for a moment, the admitted, "She's started having night terrors, which she had some before, usually when she doesn't get a good nap, but it's mean three nights in a row now, and the separation anxiety's back, which is probably a good thing, because I'm not ready to let her out of my sight, hence why I started taking her to work again, and she'd firmly told me she doesn't want to go back to _Aldi_ with me ever again. She says crazy people shop there."

"Can't say I blame her for that." Hannah admitted, "Have they—begun prosecution yet?"

"Officer Roberts actually called me with an update on the case." Reason answered, "Apparently, they want to talk to me about them offering plea deal."

"Pea deal?" Hannah repeated, "I don't understand."

"I don't either." Reason admitted, rubbing her forehead, "But they want to come in on Friday explain, which means I'll have to take a day off for this, and I need to do something with Maudie, I mean, I can't exactly take her with me, and wherever I leave her she's going to freak out…."

"Hey," Hannah said, softly, reaching out and taking her hand, "We are here for you and we will do everything we can to help."

Reason felt the wait on her shoulders loosen a bit. "Thanks, you." She breathed, "I just, I don't know how this all became such a mess—"

"You'll get through this." Hannah assured her, " _She'll_ get through this."

At the bunker, Sam was using Hannah's outing to work on the letter, which also got his mind off the grocery store debacle, and wondering if he should have been the one to check up on them instead. He wasn't having much luck. He had gone through half a waste-backet basket of draft and everything he thought of, seemed terribly saccharine, obsessive, or just plain dumb. Once again, he took a fresh piece of paper and began, _Dear Hannah, I am so tired…._

Sam froze for a moment, furrowing his brow. What? Where did _that_ come from? Well, he had been at this a while. He was about to throw it away, when he got an idea, continued to write. _I'm tired of pretending I'm not in love with you…_

That was he heard the door open. Sam quickly hid the letter and stood up and asked, "How'd it go? How are they?"

"Maudie's having separation anxiety and Reason's really shaken up and now the police want her to come to talk about this person who did it getting a plea deal, whatever that is." Hannah recapped.

"It's a when prosecutors offer a lighter sentence for a guilty verdict." Sam explained, "Usually because they're afraid they don't have enough to get conviction, which considering she was caught red-handed shouldn't be an issue, or to get them flip on conspirators."

"On the phone they did mention something to her about partners." Hannah responded. After she added, "I think we need to go with her to this meeting on Friday."

"Yeah, of course." Sam agreed.

They day of meeting came, and the McCarthys and Winchesters found themselves crowded into a row of seats at the town courthouse.

Officer, the same officer who had took Reason's statement, officer Roberts approached them. "Miss McCarthy? They're ready for you now."

Reason stood up, only for Maudie to wrap around her leg pleading, "Mommy, don't go!"

"I'm sorry, baby, but I'll just be a little bit, okay?" Reason tried to assure her.

"No!" Maudie moaned, "Someone'll take me away again!"

Everyone's heart broke collectively at that.

That was when Sam crouched down, somewhat wobbling as he did so, saying, "No Maudie, they're not. And you want to know why?" After a beat he continued, "Because me and Miss Hannah are not going to _let_ that happen, and we are going to be the whole time. And there are bunch of police officers and security guards here and their job is to keep anyone from taking anybody."

Maudie loosened her grift, but still just stared at Sam skeptically.

"Come on, you can play with Dean and Cas." Sam told her, "They've missed you."

Maudie looked at her friends. She missed them too, but she was still afraid to leave her Mommy. Eventually she did let got, slowly walking over to them.

"There's my good, girl." Reason praised, trying to keep the anguish out of her voice her, "There's my brave girl. Don't be scarred okay? Mommy will be back soon."

"Love Mommy." The little girl called out sadly.

"I love you too baby." Reason called back as she walked away.

The group sat there for what felt like forever, and even though the boys kept her somewhat distracted, Reason kept asking for her mother. Finally, at last, Reason came back. "Mommy!" Maudie shouted, running to her.

"Hey, baby." Reason smiled back, catching her.

"You okay?" Sam asked, as the family approached in small heard, "What did they tell you?"

"Not here." Reason requested, in a low voice.

At the bunker, they let the kids play while Reason explained what happened.

"Apparently she's has a history of mental instability." Reason explained, "And a desire for a baby. Since her lawyer has a good shot at an insanity plea, the prosecution wants to at least keep intstaulionized for as long as possible, hence why they want to cut a deal." After a beat she added, "At least this way, I won't have to testify, if she goes for it." Which if she was being honest, she wouldn't be completely against. Every day this went on…it just made it worst.

"Alas!" Hannah read a few night later at bed time, sitting in between the beds and the pallet, "I thought I only cared for you as a friend, but now I see I cannot live without you."

Maudie was laying on the pallaet., finally asleep, the goat at her side. Reason was finally able to convince to herself to leave Maudie at the Winchesters, but the toddler hadn't exactly been on board with the idea, but the goat seemed to comfort her, so it got to stay to for now.

"Ah, I think your audience has gone to sleep on you." A voice said behind her. Hannah turned to find Sam standing in the doorway.

"How's everyone doing in here?" Sam asked.

"The boys are asleep, so's Maudie." Hannah told him, "So far no one's woke up screaming. She wanted me to read _Beauty and The Beast."_ She held up the thing book.

"Are you sure that's a good idea given what just happened?" Sam asked.

"Well, this appears to me more of some sort of arranged marriage metaphor." Hannah reasoned.

"I'm still not so sure." Sam responded, "Anyway, Reason just called. The lady agreed with prosecutors that eight years in the nut house was better than 16 years in jail. Reason won't have to testify."

"That's wonderful." Hannah declared, noticeably relieved.

Sam walked into the room, "You staying in here for a while?"

Hannah nodded. "I just—I need to make sure they're okay."

Sam walked over and sat down next to her. "You want some company?"

"Sure." Hannah replied.

Two days after that, the Winchester needed some grocery shopping of their own, and wound up at the same _Aldi._ Hannah preferred it to _Wal-Mart_ because it was much smaller, for the most part only sold food items, and from a practical stand-point, things were often at least somewhat cheaper. Still, she was more than a little uneasy after what had happened, so she waited until Sam could go with her.

The boys had fallen asleep so it was quieter than it would usually be. Noticing they had some sort of lentils on sale, Hannah picked up a bag. "Hmmm." She mused, "Sam, how do you feel about lentil stew?"

"Huh?" Sam responded, putting a sleeping Dean into the cart.

"Lentil stew." Hannah repeated, "For tonight? Or maybe some night this week. Might be a nice change of pace."

"I'm not sure the kids are gonna eat that." Sam told her.

That was when the rambunctious triplets of the children across the way from them started pushing at their cart.

"Everly! Olympia! Steven!" The mother was scolding, "Stop that now!"

However, it was too late. The triplets, lost control of the cart, which hit Sam, who bumped into their cart sending it flying, somehow managing to make the corner.

Fortunately, the boys weren't hurt, but the _thump_ when it finally stopped woke them up. The cart was one that opened at the end, so, disoriented and a bit scared, they boys crawled out, trying to find their parents.

Which why, when said parents rushed to where the cart had landed, all they found was an empty cart, much to their dismay.

"Alright, you take the right, in case they somehow figured out to go back to that isle, I'll take the left." Sam instructed, trying appear calmer than he actually was and failing as hundred scenarios raced through his mind. What if they were hurt? What if they were lost and alone? What if they somehow got outside and walked into the street? And there was much worst scenario niggling at the very back of his mind….

What if they had been snatched?

Meanwhile, they boys were toddling through the aisles, Dean holding Cas by the arm, both of them getting increasingly upset and crying. "Mommy?" Dean called out softly, "Mommy?"

"Mommy?" Cas repeated, "Mommy? Daddy?"

Finally hearing them, Sam ran to the sound. He turned the corner and saw the boys toddle ring down the aisle. "Dean!" He called out, "Cas!"

The boys turned around and their father immediately crouched down next to him. "It's okay, guys." He soothed, physically picking them both up, "I got you. Let's got find Mommy, okay?"

The boys nodded, still crying.

"Sssh, sssh." Sam urged in a hushed tone, "No need for tears. Daddy's here and he won't let anything happen to you."

Things might be been fine after that point, had not Alex, one of the employees who been present for the earlier incident, came around the corner and saw them. Now, to be fair everyone had been edge since the attempted kidnapping in their store, but it is safe to day there was a lot about what happened next that Alex didn't think through.

Alex ran at Sam tackling him to the ground before the hunter even knew what hit him. Miraculously the children weren't injured, but Sam lost his hold on them and the terrified boys ran off, crying even harder now.

Sam had a couple hundred pounds on Alex and managed to turn around and almost thrown the boy off him, but Alex was scrappy and managed to keep hold, and the pair kept struggling on the floor. In the middle of it out, Sam started chanting a simple exorcism, partly out of instinct, partly because, well, what other explanation was there for what was happening? Hannah had been worried about something like this was happening from day one. Somehow word must have got out…

"What sort of freak are you?!" Alex exclaimed, when he heard the Latin words, that, not actually being a demon, he had no clue what they meant.

"You're not…" Sam began, one though going through his head. _Glad I left the knife in the car._

However, that was when Hannah rounded the corner, and seeing Sam being attacked, drew some conclusions of her own and before anyone knew what was happening, pulled Alex off of him, pinning the stock boy to the wall. "Hey!" Alex began to protest, but his voice trailed off, turning into a terrified squeak as the tip of an angel blade was pressed to his throat.

"Where are they?!" Hannah demanded, her very voice like hot venom, her eyes fire, "Where are they?"

"Are you talking about the kids?" Alex squeaked, "They ran off when I—" His voice trailed off as his attacker but down some slight pressure, not enough to break the skin, but enough to remind him how _very_ precarious his situation was right now, as if he needed reminding, and it occurred to him that he probably should have went after the kids to make sure they were alright.

"Don't play games with me you twisted abortion!" Hannah snarled, "Tell me where they are and I _might_ let you live, but I swear if any harm comes to them, you'll die the worst death this world has even seen! The pit will be your happy place when I'm through with you!"

"Hannah, wait, he's not— "Sam began as he watched the boys' eyes widen abject fear.

Just them a voice came over the speakers saying, "Would the parents of the two little boys come up to the front please? Your children are waiting for there. Also, would Alex please come up to the front as well. The manager needs to speak with you. _Now._ "

A relieve looked pasted over Alex's feature as Hannah let him go and she and Sam both bolted for the restigers. Then, remembering his boss asked for him as well, gulped and started that way as well. Just much more slowly.

When they got to the front the manager was waiting from them with the boys by the first register, and the boys ran to them, screaming Mommy and Daddy.

Kneeling down with arms open wide, Sam catching Dean and Hannah catching Cas. "Are you okay, buddy?" Sam and at the same time Hannah asked "Are you alright, sweetie?" Both of them franticly looked the boys over and were relieved to fine no injuries then just held on to them for dear life.

"Ah, sir, I know this probably isn't the best time, but your boys gave me the impression that one of my employees attacked you?" The manager spoke up.

Sam looked up at her, not sure how she knew that.

"One of your boys mentioned 'the red apron man hurt Daddy'." The woman explained.

Just then, Alex showed up looking around anxiously.

Realizing she had messed up, Hannah began sheepishly, "I... uh…I'm sorry for attacking you like that. I- "

"Wait, you attacked _him?_ " The manger spoke up, again, trying to figure up what exactly happened here.

"When she saw him attacking me my, ah, partner got a little worked up." Sam said quickly trying to make it not look as bad.

"So, she pulls a knife out on me?!" Alex balked.

"She what?" The manager balked right back.

"It's closer to a small sword." Hannah spoke up, before realizing that wasn't helping.

The manager was silent for a moment then said, "Okay, here's what we're going to do. Alex won't press charges against you if you don't press charges against him or sue the store. Also, please next time don't come in here armed."

Hannah and Sam exchanged looks. "Deal." They both quickly agreed together.

After paying for their groceries, Sam surprised them all by stopping at a local ice cream place.

After handing the kids their cones, he opened the passenger door. "Got you one too." He told Hannah, who had been eerily quiet for the entire ride.

"No thank you." Hannah replied, blankly, not even turning to look at him.

"It's your favorite." Sam urged, holding the chocolate cone out in front of her, trying anything he could think of to bringing him back to reality.

Hannah took the cone and started to lick, but she barely even tasted it.

"Hey," Sam continued, "What are you thinking?"

"You mean, other than we can never go to that store again?" Hannah responded, "I just kept thinking, 'what if?'" What if they had been hurt when that cart crashed? What if someone had actually tried to take them? An unhinged person like what happened with Maudie, or worst, a demon? What something took them and tortured them as vengeance for before or just to get to her or Sam?

"I know, I've been thinking that, too." Sam replied.

"There's so many…dangers out there. "Hannah continued. She paused, then suddenly said, "We can't let them out of the house again."

"What?" Sam responded, as in spite of the day's events he honestly did not see that coming.

"It's too dangerous out there." Hannah reasoned, "We were doing everything we possible could and something still happened. There are too many factors, there are not jobs and brats and…those things only we know about. The best thing we can do is just lock everybody in the bunker forever. Reason and Maudie can come too."

"Hannah," Sam began, "That's not a feasible plan."

"And why not?" Hannah responded.

"Well, for one thing, eventually we're going to run out of food." Sam replied, "Give me some room?" As he scooted over closer to her, he said, "Look, you want to protect him for everything, so do I. And as much as we want to, we can't. But, if we're extremely lucky we won't need to. And in the meantime, we'll protect them as much as we can."

Hannah was silent again. She wasn't sure she could come to terms with that.

That was when the silent was broke by Dean exclaiming, "Daddy, Cas' ice cream is bigger than mine!"

"Nuh-uh." Cas responded.

"Uh-huh!" Dean countered.

"Nuh-uh!" Cas insisted.

"Uh-huh!" Dean insisted right back.

Sam sighed. "Dean, your ice cream was the same size then you ate part of yours."

"Weally?" Dean asked, as if guinely surprised by this fact.

"Yes, really." Sam confirmed.

Satisfied, Dean went back to eating his ice cream.

The adults looked at each for a moment, and then, in spite of the seriousness of the situation, they couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Ah, thank you, little one." Hannah sighed finally.

"You welcome." Dean responded, "What I do?"

That night, the boys wanted both their parents for their bedtime routine.

"I think they're asleep." Sam whispered, closing the book.

Hannah adjusted herself, crossing her legs. "If you don't mind, I think I'm still going to stay here for a little bit." She was still somewhat shaken by the earlier incident, and wanted to make sure they were okay.

Sam crossed his legs as well, "You want some company?"

The angel didn't even hesitate. "Yes."


	38. Seventeen Years Apart

"Can I see the hat?" Maudie asked, gesturing to stack of green bowler hats on the shelf.

"Why?" Reason asked, pushing the cart.

"I'se wanna look at it." Maudie answered.

Serena Joy had offered to take them home, but needed to make a vanilla extract run on the way. Reason had wanted to stay in the car but Maudie had wanted to look and, taking that as a good sign, Reason had indulged her.

She was starting to wish she hadn't.

It wasn't that Maudie was being bad, but the tyke was just curious about everything, asking questions, asking to see things, messing with them, case in point putting the bowler hat on her head.

"Maudie, no." Reason responded, removing the hat, "You're gonna get lice doing that." With Maudie's long hair, the young mother had no doubt that lice would be a nightmare.

"Mommy, what lice?" Maudie asked.

"Lice," Reason began, putting the hat back up, "Are these awful little bugs that get in your hair and make you ich, and sometimes they hide in strange hats."

"Ew." Maudie responded.

Just them Serena Joy walked over to them. "Well, I finally found it." She declared, holding a bottle of extract up in victory. "They moved things around on me." As they made their way to the check-out, Serena Joy started talking to Maudie. "So, Maudie, me and your Mom worked out a deal for me to make something for your birthday." Reason was doing some work on Eliza Jane's car in return for Serena Joy making the cake, "Any request?"

Maudie immediately knew what she wanted. "Carmel fridge cookies!"

"Carmel refrigerator cookies?" Serena Joy repeated, to which Maudie nodded her confirmation. "Kid, I can make you anything. White cake, chocolate cake, lemon cake, apple meringue pie, I can even make you the armadillo cake from _Steel Magnolias. "_

"Serena, she has no idea what that even means." Reason told her in a low voice.

"The point is," Serena Joy began, "Of all the things you could ask for you want caramel refrigerator cookies?"

"I'se like caramel fridge cookies." Maudie told her matter of factly.

Serena Joy made a show of sighing, playing with the girl. "Alright, if that's what you want."

Meanwhile, at the bunker, Sam was trying to get Hannah on the phone. She was an hour or so later coming back from work and the qusi-ex-hunter was starting to get worried. Starch that. He had _been_ worried for the last ten minutes and was just about to start looking for her. Just he about the call one more time, his own phone started to ring. It was Hannah.

"Sam, I am so sorry." Hannah said before Sam could even get a word out, "My phone was on vibrate, and a client needed me to meet her at her place of her work, and I couldn't get away to call. I'm on my way home right now, I'm about fifteen minutes out." After a beat she added, "On the plus side, I got at least one new client and I picked up Maudie's birthday present."

"Hannah, I already got her something, remember?" Sam told her.

"What are you talking about?" Hannah responded, confused, "No we didn't."

"Yeah, we did." Sam insisted, "Those animal blocks."

"Oh." Hannah said, remembering now, "Right. Well, now she's getting a plastic pink piggy bank with a rather large nose as well."

"Alright." Sam agreed, "I'll let the twins know you're on your way."

"Thank you." Hannah responded, "See you in a few."

"You too." Sam replied, stopping short of adding two words. His plan might be a bit ridiculous, but springing it on her over the phone in casual conversation was even worse.

On the night before her birthday, Maudie wouldn't stop moving, wiggling in seat at the slab.

"Okay, time to eat." Reason told her, sitting down a creation of rice, melted cheese and broccoli with a side of summer sausage for protein in front of her.

Maudie put her fork in the creation, but she was wiggling so she couldn't get it in there good enough to get any food.

"Okay, I think you're going to have to sit still, baby." Reason told her.

Maudie managed to sit still for a few seconds, getting few forkfuls of the food into her mouth. Then started wiggling again.

Reason couldn't help but laugh. "Why are you so—wiggly tonight?"

"I'm happy." Maudie answered, continuing to wiggle.

"Is that so?" Reason responded, "And what exactly are you happy about?"

"It's my birthday." Maudie answered, before actually managing to eat something.

"Not until tomorrow honey." Reason reminded her.

Maudie's face fell. "Oh."

Reason gave her smile. "Don't look so down. It's only a day away."

Maudie's face brightened, as she repeated, happier, "Oh."

"Is it tomorrow yet?" Maudie asked later as Reason tucked her into bed along with Seal and Nessie and Dana.

"No yet, baby." Reason told her, pulling the cover over her, "You have to go sleep to get to tomorrow."

"Oh." Maude responded.

"That's favorite word today, isn't it?" Reason quipped, before pulling out the children's Bible, "Now, where were we?"

"The Story and the Song." Maudie told her. The child had heard all the tales in the book so many times she could recite them by heart.

"Right," Reason responded before beginning to read, "The Story and the Song. The Heaves are singing how great God is…."

Reason was woken up that next morning, not by her alarm, but by little hands nudging her. "Mommy, Mommy…"

Reason slowly came back to reality. "What is it, baby?"

"Am I free yet?" Maudie asked.

Reason sat up and looked for something with the time on it. She finally found her phone, which while it didn't do that much, still had the time on it, which said five forty-five. Reason was still tired –she had worked a double shift to get today off—but she didn't think she was about to get back to sleep. "Yeah, baby, you're three." In truth, Maudie had been born at night, but who got that specific anyway?

"Yay!" Maudie shouted, trying to jump from the bed. Fortunately, Reason was able to catch her.

"Careful now." Reason cautioned, pulling her back onto the bed.

After getting some breakfast into Maudie and both of them taking a shower, Reason helped Maudie get into a white long-sleeve shirt, covered by blue jumper with pink flowers.

"You are so beautiful." Reason told her momentarily amazed that this creature existed. That she had managed to make something so utterly perfect.

"You beaut-i-ful too, Mommy." Maudie responded.

Just then there was knock on the door. "Just a minute!" Reason called out, before addressing Maudie, "Stay here, Mommy will be right back."

Going to the door, Reason was surprised to see a girl with long dark hair standing there.

"Alex," Reason beamed, engulfing the girl in a hug, "I thought you couldn't make it."

"I talked Jody and letting me get ride here and back." Alex explained before pulling away. Holding out a brightly wrapped package, she said, "Here. For Maudie."

"I'll start a pile." Reason said, before ushering her inside, "How did you even know how to find us? You've never even been here.

"I had a general location." Alex explained, "Figured it out from there."

As Reason put the gift on the table, she saw a little head peeking out from the bed room. "You can come out, Maudie."

Maudie not only came out, she ran and threw herself at Alex. "I guess someone's happy to see me." The teen said, lifting Maudie up into the air.

"I free." Maudie informed, holding up three fingers.

"Are you?" Alex asked, feigning ignorance.

"Yeah." Maudie confirmed, nodding.

"Congratulations." Alex responded, giving her a hug. After sitting her down, she walked off in the corner with Reason. "And, ah, I didn't forget you either." She told her friend, pulling out a sling backpack.

"Alex," Reason gasped, "You really shouldn't have."

"Hey, it's your birthday, too." Alex reasoned.

That part Maudie overheard. "Mommy's birthday, too?"

Both young women turned to look at the little girl. Reason crouched down in front of her and decided it was best to tell her the truth. "Yes, you were born on Mommy's birthday, which means we have the same birthday."

In truth, Maudie had been a bit overdue and Reason had been starting to worry when the contractions had started in the middle of the diner while the bus was refueling. Nine hours of labor Maudie wailed her way into the world, kicking and generally making her displeasure known.

Alex had stuffed a few beauty products as well and together the three girls help each other paint their nails a pale bubblegum pink, Alex and Reason working together to coat Maudie's tiny fingernails.

Serena Joy and the Winchester showed up about the same time, but Serena Joy had an unexpected guess with her.

"Rawls?" Reason asked, upon seeing her other boss.

"Don't worry, I'm just here to help carry stuff, then I'll be on my way." Rawls assured her, walking in.

"No, I don't mind." Reason told him, "I was just surprise."

Meanwhile, Maudie was attacked Dean and Cas. "I free now, too!" She informed them, trying to get them both into a rather awkward hug.

Maudie decided she wanted to do cookies first, which lead Reason trying to figure out how to stick a candle into a pile of flat, round, light brown cookies.

"Who wants birthday cookies anyway?" Alex wondered aloud, trying to help Reason secure the candle.

"My child." Reason answered, as the half the stack fell over. She really should have insisted Maudie ask for a cake.

That was when Sam came over saying, "Here, let me try." After few different tries, he suggested, can't we just stick it through a cookie?"

Reason took one of the cookies and applied pressure until she had a small hole, and put the candle through. "Anybody got a lighter?"

Hannah handed her Caroline's lighter.

"Thanks." Reason said, taking if from her and lighting the candle. She turned around, slightly nervous. Maudie didn't really like the fire last year, trying back away from it and refusing to blow.

This year, however, she seemed mesmerized by the fire as everyone seen. " _Happy birthday to you, happy birthday, to you, happy birthday dear Maudie, happy birthday to you."_

Maudie started to blow, then, realizing she was alone said, "Mommy, blow, too."

"They're not my birthday cookies, baby." Reason told her.

"But it _your_ birthday, too." Maudie pointed out.

Everybody looked around for a moment, expect for Serena Joy who said, "So, you finally told her."

"Actually, I accidentally mentioned it in front of her." Alex admitted.

"So, you and your child were born on the same day?" Hannah recapped, "Huh."

"Well, to be fair, the same day seventeen years apart." Serena Joy commented.

"Yeah, I just didn't mention it because it's not really important anymore." Reason explained, before turning back to her to her child, "Okay, Maudie, you want to blow out the candle together, we'll blow out the candle together. On three. One, two, three." After three, they both blew on the candle, together managing to extinguish the flame with just two blows.

After the cookies, it was time for presents, Maudie immediately going for the green bowler had to the table. "Can I put this on. Does it have the lice?"

Reason took it from her, looking into it. "I think it's good. "Reason told her, before removing the ribbon and setting the hat on the grinning girl. "Now, let's see what else we got here." Grabbing a present at random, she helped Maudie get it down, reading the tag, "This one is…also from Miss Serena."

Maudie started tearing into the paper and managing to get enough of the box unwrapped, to reveal the brown packaging. The tape proved a little much for her, though. "Mommy, help."

Reason managed to get the tape off and pulled out…a smaller plastic, tan box with a logo on the front saying it was a box of oranges and some sort of white dish holding part of a fish on top on the top.

"Mommy, what that?" Maudie asked, pointing to the box.

"I'm not sure." Reason admitted, examining the box closely before looking at Serena Joy with a questioning look.

"Put a coin on the plate." Serena Joy instructed.

Reason pulled out a penny and put it on the plate and a little plastic white cat peeked out, raising out its paw and taking a coin with a "meow," as it went back in the box.

Maudie was delighted, clapping her hands and going, "Again, again!" However, as Reason fished for another, coin, she couldn't but think about how expensive this had to be.

"Reason Joanna, McCarthy, don't you dare ask me about the price." Serena Joy told her, knowing what her friend was thinking, "That's for me to worry about."

"Okay, but this is probably going to be a little embarrassing." Reason informed her, taking two gifts down. "Okay, these are from Mommy."

The first, gift, a soft pink bunny rabbit on its knees, it's hand folded in prayer , only required the removal of the removal of a ribbon wrapped around, while the second gift, something much heavier, retired the tearing of wrapping until it reveal and sturdy looking statue if a brown boat with a little read house on side, from which each side popped out the head of two giraffes, two elephants, two pandas and two lions.

Reason had never got what was so cute about Noah's Ark. It probably crowded and smelly and their occupants had literally just saw the whole world get destroyed not to mention the millions of bloated water-logged corpses that were floating up all around it. And of course, there was the fact that world had become so corrupt, so evil, so rotten down to the very core, that God went with the nuclear option. And yet still people painted it in nurseries, had it for themes of baby showers, read their kids paired down story book versions, made banks of it. Maybe it was the rainbow. But, when she saw the bank, she put her distaste aside to get her little girl the one thing she wanted.

It took Maudie a minute to figure it out, but when she saw the slot she squealed, "It's a bank!" Then she hugged it, then hugged Reason.

By the end of the unwrapping, Maudie had about four banks: The Noah's Ark, the cat in the orange box, the star-spangled piggy bank and small brown jackalope bank, one of those plastic flocked rabbits with antlers on it, from Rawls. In addition to this she got set of cloth blocks decorated to look like various zoo animals, plush puddle purse, (From Alex, how knew she was already getting a bank), and a copy of _the X-Files, Earth Children Are Weird_ (Charlie, who met Dana during her time in Lebanon, by mail).

"Fank you!" Maudie exclaimed when it was all finished, jumping up and down in a pile of banks. "Fank you, fank you fank you!" She had already thanked everyone at least once, but apparently felt the need to thank everyone again. Then she took a purple block with an elephant's features on it and held it out to the boys. "Play?"

The boys didn't have to be asked twice, almost immediately coming up to their friend.

As they played, the adults helped Reason clean up.

"Thanks for coming, guys." Reason told the Winchesters, plus Alex as they all began to leave.

"Do you weally have to go?" Maudie asked, sad that they were going.

"Sorry, but we have to." Sam told her.

"We'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Alex assured her, leaning down and giving her another hug, "Happy birthday." Then, looking at Reason she said, "You too, birthday, girl."

"Thanks." Reason replied, "See you when I drop Maudie off?"

"Definitely." Alex assured her, "I won't be going back until a bit before noon."

And with that, the last guests left.

Everyone had pitched in and helped to clean up and they helped the toddlers clean up to certain extent because they were still of the age when they needed guidance in that area, but there was still some organization of Maudie's treasures that needed to be done before bed, mainly, finding a place to store her audience of banks.

"There we go." Reason said, lining the last of the banks up along the wall in the bedroom and Maudie put the some more change into the Jackalope. Picking up Maudie up and continuing to the bed, she continued, "Your banks are all organized."

Suddenly Maudie got really quiet.

"What is it, baby?" Reason asked.

"You didn't get anything." Maudie mumbled sadly, "But it was your birthday, too."

"Well, Alex got me some things, remember?" Reason reminded her, pointing to her little pink nails.

"But I got more." Maudie told her, "That's not fair."

"I don't need a lot of presents." Reason assured her, "Three years ago today I got the best gift anyone could ever did me."

"What?" Maudie asked, not getting it.

Reason grinned, "You, silly." She tickled the child a little, making her giggle. "Now come on, let's check out this book."


	39. Relationship Upgrade

"So, Hamlet's owner's nephew will probably come by in a little bit." Sam instructed Georgia, one of the teenagers who worked at the kennel with him.

"Got it." Georgia told him, as she put her own canine charges back in their bungalows. They called them bungalows instead of cages. The boss thought it added more class. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just…" Sam began, "Have something to deal with at home."

"Buy something big without consulting that woman of yours?" The slim strawberry blonder asked, petting the greyhound mix she was handling before putting him in.

"What?" Sam responded in surprise.

"You just got that look my dad had when be bid two grands on storage unit of antique dolls." Georgia told him, "Let's just say the return on the investment was _not_ what we hoped."

Sam didn't know rather to laugh or offer some sort of sympathy. "Trust me, it's not that."

"Well, good luck, whatever its." Georgia replied.

"Thanks." Sam told her.

After switching off with Hannah, who had to meet with a couple of clients that day. Sam cleaned up little, placed the letter on Hannah's bed, where he knew he would find it, played with the kids, cooked a pepper stake, anything to keep his mind off the impending situation. Then Reason came to collect the children.

"Thanks for doing this, Reason." Sam said as he helped her usher the twins out.

Today was going to going to be the day. The letter was finished, edited three times, and he had no more excuses to no tell Hannah how he felt about her. But whatever happened next, there was no doubt going to be lengthy conversation afterwards, something he didn't want the boys around for in case things went—wrong.

"No problem." Reason assured him, "Tell Hannah hi for me." Sam hadn't told Reason what he was planning to do, but she had her suspicions.

"Wil too." Sam told her, before pulling out a casserole dish. "I made this earlier, thought you might want it."

"You didn't have to do that." Reason told him.

"I know, I don't really know why I made it, but now I have nothing to do with it, so, take it please?" Sam requested.

"Ah, sure." Reason said somewhat awkwardly, taking the casserole dish.

"Thanks." Sam replied, before addressing the boys, "See you soon guys, love you."

"Love you!" The boys repeated back, almost in unison.

This left Sam by himself. He sat down, his stomach in knots, worried about what would happen next. All he could do was wait now.

Coming back from work, Hannah came home to something she wasn't use to: A quiet house. They boy weren't talking or giggling, no sounds of playing, and, no one was running up to meet her like they almost always did. "Dean?" She called out, walking down the steps, "Castiel?" After beat she added, "Sam?"

Just then Sam came in, looking like he was scared, but trying to hide it.

"What happened?" Hannah demanded instantly, a tremor of panic running through her.

"Nothing." Sam assured her quickly.

"Then why do you that look on your face?" Hannah challenged, getting even more upset.

"What look?" Sam asked, in spite of yourself.

"That look right there." Hannah told him, "And where are the kids?"

"They're fine, they're with Reason." Sam assured her, "There's just—something we need to talk about." Suddenly his mouth went dry and he couldn't bring himself to come out and say it.

"Well?" Hannah responded, still worried. Sam was acting strange.

"There's a –" Sam cleared his throat, "A letter I left in your bedroom. You should probably go look at it while I pull myself together." Why was this so hard? He had told women he loved them before. Why was he suddenly acting like a teenager?! He had done this before! Was he _really_ that out of practice?!

Hannah walked into the room and found a white envelope on what was in theory her bed, her name written on it in Sam's handwriting. Picking it up she carefully opened and found a letter inside that read:

 _Dear Hannah,_

 _I'm so tired. I'm tired of not pretending I'm am in love with you. Because I am. I think I have been for a while there, but I just didn't realize it for some reason._

 _I first knew it, really, for sure, that day at White Castle. I put you in the car. Something just…clicked, and it was like I was seeing you were the first time. Now if you left—I think my word might fall apart. (Alright, sorry, that's a lot of pressure, but at the very least I would be broken without you.) Every time I see you now, I want to blurt it out, but it's never exactly been a good time. We were in a public place. The kids were there. I wasn't sure how you'd react. But I can't hold it in anymore. Unless I tell you, I'll never know if you feel the same way. So, here goes: I love you. I love the way you play with the kids. I love your constant inquires, your curiosity. I love your dedication to everything you do. I even love when don't understand things, it's somewhat cute. I love that your little blush you get sometimes. I bet your probably blushing now._

Hannah almost subconsciously brought a hand up to her face and realized, yes, it was abnormally warm, meaning she probably was blushing.

 _I know I'm being somewhat silly, going about it in this way. Love isn't some kind of melodrama, or at least it's not supposed to be. But I think you'll agree that this an—unusual situation._

 _So, now, the ball's in your court. I know what I'm suggesting is probably very scary for you. I know that's probably an understatement. But, if you feel the same way, all you have to do is say so. We can go as slowly as you want. And if you, don't one word for you will silence me on this forever, and I'll deal. Don't worry about that. It's all up to you._

 _Love,_

 _Sam_

The world froze around Hannah for a few moments. Sam…. Sam was saying he loved her. And not just platonically. Platonically didn't require a letter. And he wanted to know if she felt the same way. And she…she…

Hannah stopped herself before she could go. It was forbidden. It was wrong. Suddenly she felt sick. Grabbing a waste paper basket, she held her head over it as hot bile forced his way up her throat. After managing to get a hold of herself, she began to reason. Lebanon had always been odd spot when it came to angel's radar, muddled things. If they could get anyway with it anywhere, it would be here.

But she…she was still so afraid.

Sam was pacing the floor when Hannah came running back into the room. The look on her face made his heart plummet. "Well, then. I guess I have your answer."

"It's not…" Hannah got out, "It's not that. But…you're right. I'm scared. What you're proposing it's, it's…."

"Let me guess, against angel rules?" Sam finished from her.

Hannah nodded. "Sam please, I'm just—I just need time to think. I'm sorry, I know that's unfair to you."

"Well, it's not like I haven't been unfair to you, too." Sam assured her.

"I'm going out for a bit, gather my faults." Hannah told him, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Sam assured him.

 _Why does he have to be so good?_ Hannah thought, running past him, barely keeping it together. Yes, if he wasn't so good, it'd be easier.

It'd be easier if she didn't love him.

Hannah wound up driving around aimlessly to the point where she wasn't even sure where she was. Her head felt like soup and she couldn't even think she so she turned on radio, trying to clear her head. That quickly proved to be a mistake because the song currently playing almost seemed to be mocking her cowardice: _Just give me time if you need more. There's no way to ever really know. How to protect yourself or predict the outcome, but you do anything when you love someone. You do everything when you love someone…_

Hannah quickly turned the radio off again. That definitely wasn't helping. In fac was the last thing she needed. Part of her was telling her to turn back around and tell Sam she loved him too, but another part was telling her to say no. That they were better as friends. It was safer for everyone. She had no idea what she was doing…

 _You're an idiot, you know that?_ A voice rang out in her head. A familiar voice.

"Caroline?" Hannah asked aloud.

 _You rejected the kindest man over some stupid rules that nobody even going to know you broke, and…_

Serena Joy had cake, and a pie crust in the over and was currently mixing milk and chocolate and liquor like her life depended on it, when suddenly there was frantic knocking at the door. Sitting the bowel down she looked though the peephole and saw Hannah on the edge of tears.

Serena Joy, threw the door open. "Come on." She said urgently, pulling the angel inside. "What's wrong honey?"

Hannah couldn't speak. It was all too much. Caroline was still reading her the riot act in her mind and was getting progressively angrier. She couldn't think. She wasn't even sure how she got there.

"Come on," Serena Joy said firmly, but gently, taking Hannah by the arm and guiding her to a nearby chair, "Let's sit you down, right here." She lowered Hannah into the chair then turned around, "I'm gonna call Sam."

"No!" Hannah exclaimed, before saying, more calmly, "No. Please."

Meanwhile, Sam was pacing the floor of the bunker. He should call, make sure she was alright. Who was he kidding, of course, she wasn't alright. Sitting down in the nearest chair, he flooded his hands, bowed his head. He didn't do this as often as he did when he was younger, but he still did. Now seemed like as good a time as any. "Look, ah, I'm not sure if you're listening, but, ah, if you are, I know you're probably not happy with me, considering I think I just really hurt one of your daughters, but, um…just, help her please? Keep her safe while she's out there, and please, don't let what I've done cause everything to implode."

Meanwhile, at Serena Joy's, Hannah was explaining everything had happened.

"So, do you love him?" Serena Joy asked.

"I do, but it's …" Hannah began.

"Forbidden." Serena Joy cut her off, "Yes, you said that a couple of times. But you also said we were basically in an angelic dead zone, which is oddly disconcerting."

"It's just—I don't know what to do." Hannah sobbed, "I can't even think to figure out what to do, Caroline won't stop yelling at me, and there's music coming from somewhere and I don't know where."

That was when Serena Joy realized she left the TV on a music video station while she had been cooking, and Roxette was playing. " _Listen to your heart, when he's calling for you. Listen to your heart. There's nothing else you can do. I don't know where you're going, and I don't know, but listen to your heart before…"_

Serena Joy picked up the remote and turned it off saying, "Alright, that's enough of that." Then she turned her direction to Hannah and asked, now, who's Caroline, and how is she yelling you, and why won't she stop?"

At the bunker, Sam had taken to pacing the floor. He looked at his phone, wondering he should call.

At Serena Joy's apartment, the waitress, after Hannah briefly explained the other situation, was staring in her eyes and said, sternly, "Look, Caroline, I get it you don't think she handled this situation well, but browbeating her is not going to help the situation, so do something productive, or shut up!"

Suddenly everything went quiet in Hannah's head. Then Caroline spoke again. _Hannah, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so harsh. Can you just…come in here so we can talk?_

"She wants me to talk to her." Hannah told Serena Joy, "I might be a few minutes." Then she closed her eyes.

Hannah now found herself in some sort of bedroom. Caroline was lying on top of the bed in a pair of white panties, some sort of pastel lavender scarf covering her breast. This memory must had been more recent because her hair was brown, curled at the bottom, like Hannah wore it. And once again that stupid song was playing…

 _I know there's something in the wake of your smile. I get a notion from the look in your eyes…_

"Can you please turn off the music?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know, you tell me." Caroline replied, sitting up, "Seriously, can I? "

"It's still your mind." Hannah told her.

Caroline reached out and hit a button on the clock-radio. "Sorry about going off on you like that. And sorry about all—this." She gestured to the clock radio and then to her half-naked body, "I just needed a place quieter than the club and somehow—somehow I got here." She turned her head to look out the window, then began speaking in almost wistful tone. "This coastal town in Florida, in-between jobs. Wasn't our vacation house, but it wasn't exactly vacation season. It was just—me and Joe. Spent our days swimming and spending a lot of time in the bed, lived off of dinner mints and jelly babies, only went to town for cigarettes. Best long weekend of my life. "She was silent for a long moment, then turned back to Hannah with a renewed sense of purpose, grabbing the angel by either side and shaking her demanding, "What the Hell are you doing?! You have a man—a good man who loves you and you love back—don't deny it, I could feel it when you read that letter, your emotions were that strong- and you're throwing it all away for—for what? Some stupid rules?"

"Rules that are there for a reason." Hannah argued, "And this isn't just any other human. It's a Winchester. And not just a Winchester, but the one who was suppose—who almost did— who _did_ -"

"Oh, please, you haven't cared about that in _months."_ Caroline practically snarled, "This isn't about whatever he did to get on you guys' bad side, I'm honestly not sure what happened there, it's barely about angel-human romance being a no-no. You've got things going on inside you, and they scare you. They _terrify_ you. And I don't even have to feel that. I know from personal experiences." She took a deep breath, then changed tactics slightly, "You know why I love that club so much. Because that's where I meant the love of my life. I was on about my second martini when the bar tender brought over a brandy Alexander of all things, told me it was from the gentlemen at the corner table. One thing leads to another and next thing you know, we were literally partnering in crime for the next four years." She took a deep breath, "And then he died, and between the thought of being without him being so unbearable, and—other factors that aren't important right now, I wound up on the bridge."

Hannah stared at her, feeling a heaviness inside her. "Caroline, I'm so sorry. I didn't know…"

"Please, let me finish, there's a reason I'm telling you all this." Caroline cut her off, "The point is, the one regret, I have about all my time with him, is that every time he proposed—I said no. Aside for some practical matters, I had a bunch of issues, and I was scared. But you can learn from my mistakes. You get what I'm trying to say here?"

"You think I should be with Sam." Hannah concluded, "That I shouldn't let my fear get in the way."

"It can be taught!" Caroline beamed, before hugging her, "Now go on, go get your boy."

When Hannah came to, Serena Joy was staring at her worried. "Everything okay in there?"

"Yes." Hannah answered, "Caroline thinks that I love Sam, I should be with him."

"Well, then, if your—house or whatever is okay with it, really it's nobody business but yours and Sam." Serena Joy advised her.

Hannah stood up. "I have to go." She ran for the door before turning around. "Thank you. For everything."

"I didn't do that much." Serena Joy replied, "Really, I just listened. Just remember, if you need a venue for the wedding, I have a parlor. Well, actually I have a living room, but close enough."

"Huh?" Hannah responded, perplexed.

"Never mind, just go." Serena Joy responded, "Be an angel, standing in front of a man, asking him to love her."

"I will." Hannah told her, running out the door.

Once she was gone, Serena Joy went back to her kitchen and started stirring the contents of the bowel. From that day on she nicknamed that particular desert chocolate mousse 'relationship upgrade' pie.

As she ran down the stairs, Hannah bumped into a small man with brown hair and a matching beard. "Oh, sorry." She told him.

"You okay, Miss?" He asked.

"Yes, sorry, I'm just on my way to do something." Hannah explained before running down the stairs.

Once again, Chuck Shurly just smiled. Looks like things were working out after all.

Sam was still pacing the floor when the phone rang. Barely look at the caller ID he answered. "Hannah."

"Sam, I'm sorry." Hannah immediately said, "I love you. I love you more than anything in the known universe next to the boys. I was just—just—"

"I know." Sam replied, honestly not sure where this was going at that point and scared.

"Can I come back home?" Hannah requested, "Please."

Suddenly Sam felt a load lifted off him. "Yes. Yes, you could always come home." Suddenly he couldn't stop from laughing.

"Sam, what—" Hannah began.

"I'm sorry, it's just—" Sam continued, "You don't know how happy you've just made me."

"I actually think I have some idea." Hannah replied, "I'll see you soon. Love you." After a moment she added, "It feels so good to actually say that."

"I know." Sam told her, not believing this was finally happening, "I love you too."

Five minutes later, Sam was waiting at the bottom of the stairs when Hannah burst through the doors. She ran down the stairs and into Sam's waiting arms and he put his lips on her hers, first almost case, then fiercer, deeper, and she kissed him back with the same ferocity. When they finally came up from air, Sam said, "Let's go get our kids."

"Yes." Hannah agreed.

They ran down to the garage, Sam pulling her by the hand. "My car or yours?" He asked, his heart beating so fast it might beat out of his chest.

"Yours, I had to take the car seats out today." Hannah replied, literally breathless.

They pair slid into the front see, Hannah getting right next to Sam and taking his hand again.

By chance, Sam had it on the same station Hannah kept it on in her car at the time, and, maybe by chance, maybe not, a certain song came through the speaker as they drove through down: " _I just hung up the phone you have a way of changing my day. You've proved me wrong, I was convinced I was alone, yeah. That's what you do when you love someone. That's what you do when you love someone…_

Reason was in the front yard with the kids, who were playing with the goat when the Impala pulled up. "Look guys, it's your Mommy and Daddy." She told them, pointing to the car.

The boys ran to their parents as they got out, each one grabbing a toddler. "Hey, buddy." Sam smiled, picking Dean up in the air, "You too been being good?"

"Yep." Dean answered, nodding, and Castiel also nodded.

"Just give me a second and I'll get your pan." Reason told them, heading inside.

"You know what, Reason?" Sam began, "It's fine, I'll pick up later."

"You sure?" Reason asked, "It'll just be a minute."

"It's fine." Sam insisted.

That was Reason notice the hunter and angel holding hands. Her eyes widened a bit but quickly got under control. "Alright then." She agreed, "Have good night, guys."

"Good night," Everyone said in unison, getting into the car.

When they were out of sight, Reason looked at her daughter. "Maudie, honey, we need to go inside for a few minutes. Mommy needs to call Miss Serena."


	40. These Dreams

After that, things remained oddly unchanged. Sam and Hannah did the same things they already did. They took care of and played with the kids. They did the household chores. When the work was done for the day they sat down together and watched a show or a movie or something. The only thing that changed really is that there was lot more hand-holding and lot more kissing. Also, Sam would sometimes bring Hannah flowers when he got home from work.

Well, there was _one_ other thing that had changed. Sam and Hannah had started sharing a bed. They weren't actually having relations, Hannah would just—lay there, by Sam while he slept, usually in one of his shirts, unless one of the boys needed them.

That was when she first noticed it. Sam's near constant tossing and turning in the night. Sometimes he would even shout, cry out. She knew the hunter had nightmares, flashbacks from Hell and other things, but never realized the extent of it before now.

It pained her to see him suffer so much. She knew she had to do something about. Something beyond just shaking him awake and saying it was alright. That he was there, he was fine.

One night, as Sam rolled in the bed, Hannah couldn't take it anymore. She sat up right, and getting on her knees, still in the bed, putting her hands over his body and started chanting in Enochian.

Suddenly, Sam went from the heat and the blood and the horror, and he could fell himself, floating on the breeze. Suddenly, he was surrounded by clear blue sky, standing on bright green grass. He was in some sort of garden, as he was standing next to series of pale yellow rose bushes, surrounding a yellow house and scarlet maple tree.

"What the—" Sam began, looking around. Not that he was complaining.

That morning, as Sam woke up, he saw Hannah burying down into the bed, as if she had been up for something. "Hey," She greeted him, "How'd you sleep?"

"Actually, pretty well." Sam told her.

"Good." Hannah smiled back at him.

"I've been having dreams again." Sam said, over a skillet of eggs a few days later, when he was sure the kids weren't paying attention.

"Hmmm?" Hannah responded, trying to appear casual.

"For the last couple of nights, I've been sleeping very well and… _dreaming."_ Sam elaborated.

"Is that so unusual?" Hannah asked, playing dumb.

"For me, kinda." Sam told her.

"What kind of dreams are you having?" Hannah asked, as it seemed like the thing to say.

"There's like this garden, and house." Sam answered, "It's really beautiful."

"And you're…you're happy with these dreams?" Hannah asked, not to stroke her own ego, to see if there was anything she could improve on.

"Well, yeah." Sam responded, putting the eggs onto plates.

Sam kept having the dream about the garden for a week and half. He couldn't actually get in the house, but he could explore the rest of the area around it. Like most of dreams, everything was somewhat hazy, so he didn't really go anywhere, but still, it was pleasant.

In an unusually clear moment, Sam noticed someone watching him from behind the house. Curious, he started to walk that direction. "Hey!" San called out, as the figure shirked away. Getting behind the house, he saw a by now familiar angel shrinking down.

"Hannah?" Sam asked.

The angel silently stood up, her head bowed, caught.

"What are you doing here?" Sam balked, "Wait, _are_ you actually here?"

Hannah nodded, then decided that, since she had been caught, she should just come out with it. "I'm the one who's been doing—all this." She gestured to the seen around them.

"You—" Sam stammered, "You've been shaping my dreams?"

Suddenly it occurred to Hannah that any sort of messing with a partner's mind could-quite reasonably—be considered a violation. "I'm sorry," She began, "I just—I couldn't stand watching you suffer practically every night, and—"

"Hannah, it's okay." Sam cut her off, "It's actually really sweet." After a beat he added, "Though I got to ask, how did you come up with—" He gestured around them.

"It's one of my client's houses." Hannah explained, "It's quite lovely and I hoped you would find it pleasant."

Sam chuckled a little. "Yeah, I'd have to say I do. "Bending his arm, he asked, "Care to show me around?"

Hannah took his arms. "Certainly."

"Hey, Sam?" Georgia began, coming up to him a few days later at work, "I need to call in one of those favors you owe me."

Georgia had walked and taken care of the dogs Sam was assigned to a couple of times while he was out of town during the tiger incident, and the Charlie incident, so he told her, he owned her one. Both times.

"Yeah, sure." Sam responded, turning around, "What is it?"

"Me and my dad are going to an auction up in Utah this weekend, I was hoping you could walk my dogs for a couple of day until I get back?" She requested.

"Sure." Sam replied, heading over to one of the giant bags of dogfood they kept on the premises.

Georgia just looked at him for a moment, as if contemplating something.

When Sam realized he was being watched, he paused. "Was there something else?"

"No, it's just—Lennie told me the other day that something was different about you." Georgia said, "And she's right. I can't put my finger on but-there just is."

"Well, I've been sleeping better." Sam admitted, "Maybe that's it."

"Yeah, maybe." Georgia agreed, before going back to her dogs.

"You know, just let me know if you want a change of scenery and I can come up with something else." Hannah offered that night as they walked in the garden.

"Hey, I'm just happy there's no blood, and no torture." Sam told her.

Hannah was silent, looking down as her heart broke at his words.

"Hey," Sam spoke up, turning his attention to her, "You okay?"

"I just—thinking about what happened you, it—it hurts." Hannah explained, "If I could have stopped that from happening—I would have. You…you didn't deserve that."

Suddenly Sam felt a dark pall came over him. "Hannah, you know I've…I've done things."

Hannah looked down. "Well, so have I. Some of it you were even there for." She deeply regretted trying to force Castiel to kill Dean back when they were adults now. And there were half a dozen other things that at the very least she was unsure about. Things she had been so sure about at the time…

Squeezing her hand, Sam quipped, "Well, I guess that's one thing we have in common."

Hannah couldn't help but smile. As they walked by a rose bush, she reached out in plucked one from its home, handing the yellow bloom to Sam.

"What's this?" Sam asked, looking down at the flower and rolling it in his hand.

"Well, you give me flowers sometimes." Hannah reasoned.

"Well, that's because…." Sam began, "You know what? Never mind." It was a sweet gesture, even if it didn't go with gender norms.

That was when they heard the crying and Sam woke up, both of them raising in the bed. "You take one, I take the other?" Sam guessed. Even if only one of them had, had the bad dream or whatever happened to upset them, one was bound to wake the other.

"Yes." Hannah agreed, getting out of bed.

Sure enough, Dean had, had a bad dream and his screaming woke Cas up. They managed to sooth both children and slept four in the bed last night.

The dreams walks became their nightly ritual. Sometimes Hannah would change it up. A forest. A beach. But it was usually the house in the garden.

One night it was even a bar.

"How'd you even know how to set this up?" Sam asked, glancing around.

"I remembers the bars from when I helped you hustle pool." Hannah answered.

Sam chuckled at the memory of Hannah playing the frustrated wife, trying to pull him away from the pool table, wailing to anyone who would listening about his gambling problem. She even got people to give her money sometimes just because they felt sorry for her. They stopped hustling only a little while back, but that seemed so long ago now. "Right." Feeling playful, he asked, "So, ah, can I buy you drink?"

The on-coming morning was Sunday, and Sam didn't have to be in until that afternoon, so when the alarm went off, Sam shut it up, but just lay there a moment, playing with a strain of Hannah's curls.

"Sam," Hannah began, "What are you doing?"

"Just—taking it in for a moment." Sam told her.

They were both quiet for a moment, then Hannah, "One of us should probably get the kids up."

Sam grinned. "Just a little while longer."


	41. Down On The Farm

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Hannah asked as she helped Sam load his suitcase into the trunk, which had been stripped of most of less inconspicuous items.

"I can a handle a couple of nights." Sam assured her, "The worst thing will probably just be missing you and these guys." He gestured to the boys.

"I mean, do you actually know anything about farming?" Hannah asked.

"It's not like they're gonna ask me to put chemicals on anything." Sam told her, "I'm just muscle to lift stuff. Now, I've put meals together for the next several nights all you have to do is put them in the oven, and I left temperate instructions attached to each one—" After a beat he realized, "That's condescending, isn't it?"

"Only slightly." Hannah responded, as she had to admit there was still a small risk of her starting a fire in the kitchen. "You didn't—you didn't make that vegetarian, mushroom thing again, did you though?"

"It's good for them." Sam passively protested.

"Or it would be if we could get them to get it." Hannah countered.

"They normally like mushrooms." Sam tried.

"Last time Dean tried to keep it as a pet." Hannah reminded him, "He named it Fred and tried to feed it the side dishes."

"Okay, heart up one of them other ones that night." Sam relented, "And you know how to reach me?"

"In addition to your number, I have the phone for the farm and the Lawson's home phone, and if I'm really having trouble reaching anyone—" She almost visible cringed as she added, "The local police department."

"You won't need that one. "Sam assured Hannah then kissed her on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too." Hannah replied.

Then he turned his attention to the boys, crouching down so he was about as tall as they were. "Come here, guys." He urged, pulling them both into a hug. He felt bad about leaving them again, especially since this stint would be bit longer than the other incidents, but he had already made the commitment, so what else could he do?

"Don't go, Daddy." Castiel whimpered.

"We'll eat the yucky mushroom thing." Dean added, sounding on the edge of tears.

Sam's heart broke at that. "Oh, Buddy, I'm not leaving because of that." He assured the toddler, pulling back to look at him, "But I made a promise, and I have to keep it. But I'm going to call every night and I'll be back as soon as I can. Now, in the meantime, you're going to be good for Mommy, right?"

"Right." Dean agreed, followed by Cas repeating, "Right."

"I knew I could count on my two big, brave, strong boys." Sam praised, giving them both another hug, this time individually, "I love you."

"I's love you too, Daddy." Cas told him as Dean told him, "Love, Daddy."

After what had been a long, lonely drive, Sam arrived at medium -size white farmhouse. The house was separated from the 'farm' part of the property, by a fence, past which Sam could see several acres of cabbage. Pulling out his phone and against his better judgement praying for a signal, he called home. "Hey, Hannah," He began when she picked up the phone, "Just wanted you to know I got here safe."

"That's good to hear." Hannah told him, "Have you talked to him yet?"

"No, I wanted to check in first." Sam explained, "So how are the kids?"

"I took a page out of the Sam Winchester playbook and pulled out the playdough." Hannah answered, "Seems to be keeping them nicely distracted." She glanced over just in time to see Dean with a rolled-up ball of blue dough edging towards Cas' exposed wings, "Dean Eric Winchester, if you put that dough in your brother's wings, we are putting it up and you go to the corner!"

Dean put the down, looking at the floor in shame. "Sowwy, Mommy."

"It's your brother you need to say sorry, too." Hannah told him.

"Sowwy, Cas." Dean responded.

Cas, who had been engrossed with making long cylinder-shapes out of the play dough and hadn't noticed the attempted attack until their mother started scolding Dean, just looked around, confused.

"Hey, remind him that he promised he'd be good." Sam suggested over the phone.

"Dean, remember, you promised Daddy you'd be good." Hannah reminded him.

Dean looked up and realized his mother was on the phone. "That Daddy?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes." Hannah answered, "He called to –"

Before she could finish the sentence, both toddlers were running up to her. "Hi, Daddy!" Dean called out.

"Daddy, you there?" Cas chirped.

"Are yous coming back now?" Dean asked.

"Not yet, buddy." Sam called out, "I'm just checking in."

Just then Sam heard a knock on the window. He turned to see an older man with graying black hair looking at him.

"Honey, I gotta go." Sam told Hannah, "I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"Love you, too." Hannah responded, trying not to sound worried.

Sam rolled down the window and asked, "Russ Lawson?"

"Yes," The man confirmed, "Can I help you?"

"I'm Sam Winchester." He answered, "We talked on the phone."

"Right, Russ responded, backway from the car to get out. Once he did, the pair shook hands as Russ said, "Nice to meet you."

"You, too." Sam agreed, "So, ah, how does this work? I'm sorry, ah, Shawn didn't go into great detail when we were hammering this out."

"Frist, I'll show you where you stow your gear," Russ answer, "Then I'll tell you what I need you to do today."

The Lawsons had a tiny little room on the back corner with a wood-framed bed covered with a red and green quilt, and small drawer for a bedside table.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Russ requested, as he watched Sam put his bag down.

"Yeah, sure." Sam granted.

"What's a guy in his thirties, no experience in farming whatsoever, suddenly start working on a farm during harvest season for?" Russ asked.

"Big life changes." Sam answered, "Last year I became the…guardian of a set of twins. They turned in three in July. That was their Mom I was on the phone with earlier. Anyway, that—that leads to need for money and when I was looking for work when I ran into your son, and, well…now we're here."

"Oh," Russ said, "I see. That actually explains a lot."

"It does?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Russ confirmed, "Now come on, I'll show you what I need you to do first."

Sam was basically there to do the things that Russ and the farmhands weren't as able to do because of the harvest. That first day included fixing the fence around the house, tending to the animals. While the farm's main income came from corn in the fall, cabbages in the summer, they also had a medium size heard of beach cattle, and small flock of chickens who with the help of the nearest neighbor, eggs were sold at a local farmer's market for their joint profit.

He quickly became convinced the later hated him.

"Come on, chicken," Sam urges a hen who refused to get off the eggs, "They don't have a roster, those aren't turning into babies." He poked at the chicken, which rose up, an angry look on its face, flapping her wings.

 _Oh crap._ Sam thought, knowing whatever happened next wasn't going to be good.

Suddenly the chicken came at him. Sam ran for it, dodging the attempts at pecking, eventually running from the coup and the pin, which was finally where the chicken stopped, thought it kept shrieking at him.

"Eventually I got the eggs." Sam told Hannah that night on the phone, "Though I risked getting pecked to death to do it."

The boys, who were in on the call as well via speaker phone, giggled at the story, especially Dean.

"But you're okay, right?" Hannah, asked, as the adult taking the matter more seriously.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sam assured her, "She didn't get me. Not even once." Then he yet out a yawn.

"You sound so tired." Hannah noted.

"It's fine." Sam responded, "But I probably should be getting to sleep. We get up at five AM on the dot tomorrow. Love you guys."

"Love you, too." Hannah replied as the boys chimed in, "Love you."

After they hung up, Hannah looks to the boys, who were both sitting on Dean's beds. "Alright, little ones, you've talked to Daddy, now it's time to go to bed." She plucked Cas off and took him over to his bed, tucking him in.

"What about me?" Dean protested.

"I'll get to you in a second sweetie." Hannah assured him. This could prove difficult with one of her and two of them.

"Okay, guys." Sam called out, throwing the bails at the cows, "Time for breakfast."

"You're starting to get the hang of that." A voice said behind him.

Sam turned to see an older woman dressed in an old work shirt and overalls, her pale hair done up in a knot on her head.

"Hey, Mrs. Lawson." Sam responded, "I, ah, I thought you were in the field with the others."

"Just thought someone needed to check on the temp." Mrs. Lawson informed him.

They had been referring to Sam as 'the temp' since he arrived. He guessed they needed to call it something.

"Don't worry, everything's going find." Sam assured her, throwing a bell and nearly hitting a cow, "Except for that." Sometimes he felt so out of his depth here.

"Here, let me help." Mrs. Lawson said, walking up and grabbing one in the bale, "On three. One…."

"…two…" Sam said with her.

"…. three…." They also said together, hitting a safe distance from the cows.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Sam asked, "As long as you're here?"

"Sure." Mrs. Lawson answered.

"Do you know anyone that…lost a goat?" Sam came out with it.

In spite of herself, Mrs. Lawson laughed, "What?"

"I have a friend back in Lebanon who found a baby goat a couple of months back." Sam explained, "She hasn't been able to find the owner."

"Sorry, I don't know what to tell ya." Mrs. Lawson replied, "If I do hear about someone missing a goat, I'll let you know."

Later that day, back in Lebanon, Hannah decides to take the children and goat to the park before Reason came to get Maudie. "Go on, you three," Hannah encouraged. Then she sat on bench where she could see them.

Just then voice asked, "Would you mind if I join you?"

Hannah turned her upper half to see a woman in her early thirties, with wavy auburn hair that fell almost to her waist. "My three are right over there." She gestured to where a blonde, brunette and redhead were climbing on the playset. Well, the brunette and redhead were. The blonde was just staring up at them clutching a plush fawn that was almost as big as she was.

"Sure." Hannah granted.

"Thank you." The woman said, sitting down next to her. "So, which one is yours?" She asked, pointing towards the children.

"The one boy pulling the other one with the trench coat along." Hannah answered, pointing them out, "That's Dean and Cas, they're inseparable. The little blond girl also with us, but she's actually a friend's. She's Maudie."

"They're beautiful." The woman noted.

"Thank you." Hannah responded, "So are your little girls."

"Thank you." The woman replied, then she got oddly silent, looking down.

"Is—something wrong?" Hannah asked, worried that she had said something to offend the woman.

"No, no, everything's fine, it's just—it's a long story." The woman answered, then tried to change subject, by saying, "I'm Elsbeth, by the way."

"Hannah." She replied, "So, how old are your girls?"

"Vanessa's seven, Scarlet's five and…." Elsbeth's voice trialed off for a moment, "Dor—Dory's three."

"That's actually the same age as my boys." Hannah commented, "Maudie, too."

Meanwhile, over at the playground, Dory continued to stare up at the playset when, Dean, his usual friendly self, walked up. "Hi, I'se Dean." He introduced himself, almost as if he had rehearsed it, "What's your name?"

Dory, looking like the other toddler had just threatened her, let out a distressed," eh!" moving away from Dean.

"What'd I do?" Dean asked, confused by the reaction.

That was when Scarlett felt the need to step in. "Hey!" She shouted, climbing down from the playset, "Get away from my sister."

"Scarlet, no!" Vanessa pleaded, following her sister down.

"Ah, I think we might have a problem." Elsbeth announced, over on the bench, "Look."

Seeing the fight about to ensue, the pair lept up, and hurried to the seen. "Scarlet Anne!" Elsbeth exclaimed, "What do you think you're doing?"

"He was harassing Dory!" Scarlet accused, pointing a finger right at Dean.

"No, I wasn't!" Dean protested, "Ah, what does harass mean?"

"It's like bullying, being mean to someone. "Hannah explained, "Dean, is that true? Were you picking on her?" It would be out of character for Dean, and it didn't look like that had been what happened, but she couldn't completely discount it, and didn't want to call the other woman's child a liar.

"No." Dean insisted, starting to get upset, "I just said hi!"

"I tried to stop her!" Vanessa added, "It wasn't my fault!"

Elsbeth crouched down in front of her younger child. "Scarlet, we've talked about this. Not every kid that looks at baby sister is out to get her. And even if he was, he's smaller than you. That's why you're supposed to come to me. Now, apologize to Dean."

Scarlet looked at her mother confused.

"Him." Elsbeth elaborated, pointing at Dean, "He's Dean, the one you need to apologize to."

Scarlet's eyes fell to the ground, "Sorry, Dean."

That was when Venessa looked around and asked, "Hey, where'd Dory go?"

The adults started looking around franticly, and that's when Hannah realized, "Cas is gone, too."

"Alright, they couldn't have got too far." Elsbeth said, trying to remain calm, but there was panic in her voice, "Nessa, Scarlet stay here, keep an eye on her kids, too." Then she walked off, calling out, "Dory!"

"Cas?!" Hannah called out, running across the playground, "Castiel!"

They were both running around franticly calling their children's names, something calling the other child's name, when Hannah stopped in front of the sandbox. Sitting right there, was Cas and Dory, playing.

Letting out of a side of relief, Hannah called out, "Elsbeth, I found them."

Elsbeth rushed up to her and stared in shock as Cas wrapped coat around the fawn before handing it back to Dory who started rocking it like a baby.

"Oh, my God," Elsbeth breathed, "She's interacting with him. She's actually interacting with him."

"Yes," Hannah responded, mystified as to why the woman would be so surprised.

"You don't understand." Elsbeth told her, started to get emotional, "She barely spoken two words since I got her, she doesn't play this is—this is— "Suddenly she was hugging a still confused Hannah. "I'm sorry." She said, pulling back and whipping at her eyes, "I just got a little overwhelmed there."

The youngest two children of the group, Dean and Maudie, walked over to the pair, only for Dory to hide behind Cas, whimpering.

"Well," Elsbeth responded to the seen, "It's a start."

"How'd you get in the screen?" Dean asked, poking at the laptop on their end of the video call.

"Screen needs to let Daddy out!" Cas exclaimed trying to get through the screen.

"No, no, buddy, Daddy's not trapped." Sam assured him, "That's not how this works, it just—makes it so we can see each other."

"Oh." Cas responded, backing away from the screen.

"We maded new friends today!" Dean exclaimed suddenly.

"Really?" Sam asked, sounding intruded.

"We ran into a woman and her daughters who were in town visiting family at the park." Hannah explained, "The youngest took a liking to Cas. Apparently, they're thinking about making a move, but there are other factors to consider. How did your day go?"

"Well, I didn't almost get pecked to death." Sam quipped, "It was good just—busy. As you can imagine, there's, uh, a lot of work to do on a farm."

"But your safe, right?" Hannah asked, monetarily worried.

"Yeah, of course." Sam assured her, "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

Sam thought he might be actually starting to get the hang of this.

He had made it through all the morning chores, fixing yet another hole in the fence, feeding the chickening and gathering their eggs, feeding the cows and moving them to a different pasture, putting up the rest of the haybales, and that day the barn needed some repair work which Sam assured them he could do, without being pecked, trembled, attacked by falling haybales, or falling to his death.

Now if only anyone would just talk to him.

The Lawson spoke to him, some outside of giving him the day's list, but it seemed as if none of the farmhands wanted anything to do with him when they didn't have to help him with the chores. In fact, during the short meal breaks, they made it a point to sit as far away from Sam as possible. Sam didn't know if it was because he was an interloper, or because he wouldn't be here that long. Anyway, he was trying to not take if personally and just focus on his work

It was during that day's aforementioned meal break that there was some whispering going on among the farm hands, then one of them called out, "Hey! It's Sam, right?"

"Yeah," Sam responded, surprised by the change.

"Why don't you come over here?" The man suggested, gesturing with a hand to the crowd.

"Ah, sure," Sam said, getting up and walking to the group.

"I' m Dean, by the way." The man who had invited him over introduced himself.

"Hey, that's actually my son's name." Sam informed him.

"You have a son?" Another man with ruddy hair and complexion asked.

"Yeah, two actually." Sam admitted, "Twins."

"You got pictures?" The only woman among the hands other than Mrs. Lawson, though her hair was boyishly short, asked, "I know you have pictures."

"I'm not sure if I have any on me," Sam began, then found his wallet, "Oh, yeah, here I do."

That afternoon Reason was glancing back at the kids in the back as Hannah was driving when suddenly the car started to slow and sputter. "No, no, no, no!" Hannah pleased under her breath. This couldn't happen. Not with Sam out of town.

"What's wrong?" Reason asked, turning back around.  
"I think the car's about to break down." Hannah answered as she pulled over to the side of the road.

"Why'd we stop?" Dean asked.

Hannah decided to answer honestly, but downplayed it. "Something's wrong with the car, sweetie. Just—stay here, I'll be right back."

After Hannah had been gone for a few seconds Reason looked back at the kids saying, "Don't worry, I'm just going to see how she's doing." Then she got out of the car.

When Reason got there, Hannah was standing in front of an open engine, arm against the hood. "Any idea what's wrong here?"

"No." Hannah responded, "I don't know anything about cars."

"Here, let me." Reason offered, practically climbing into the inside of the car.

"Ah, Reason, what are you doing?" Hannah asked.

"Trying to see down here." Reason answered, "Hey, you got a flashlight."

Hannah walked back to the car and grabbed a flashlight from the glovebox, then came back. "Just turn it on hold it at the car." Reason instructed.

Hannah did as she told, but asked, "Ah, Reason, do you know what you're doing?"

"Trust me I got it." Reason assured her, then said, "Ah, I see what's wrong now. I just need something to together this with. You wouldn't happen to have a wrench in there, would you?"

Hannah didn't have a wrench, but they were eventually able to find a few rubber bands that managed to fix the problem long enough until they could get to one.

"Reason, how did you know how to do this?" Hannah asked, as she watched Reason finish the job.

"I spent half my life watching the youth pastor at my Dad's church fixing things." Reason explained, "He was handy man and he had family who were mecancanics who taught him basically everything about cars. One time our van broke down on the way from an outreach, I stood there with a flashlight for a half hour while he was under the hood, once he figured out it was faulty wire, he got a ride to the nearest auto parts store, had back on the road in no time." After a beat she changed the subject back to the car, "Okay, I need you to get in, and see if you can start the car."

Hannah did as she was told and the engine roared to life.

"Ha!" Reason exclaimed in victory, "Now we're talkin'!" She slammed the hood, saying, "You can get out now."

"Have you ever considered, doing this professionally?" Hannah asked.

"What?" Reason responded.

"There are shops were people pay to have this done." Hannah elaborated.

"Yeah, but you need to go to trade school for that." Reason replied, "Or at least need a high school degree. I don't have the money or the time for that."

"But it could be something worth looking into, couldn't it?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah, maybe." Reason conceded.

"You should've seen it Sam." Hannah told him that night on the phone. After talking to their father for a little bit, the boys had gone to sleep, so they had a bit of privacy. "She almost instantly knew what was wrong."

"It's weird, sometimes, the things you don't know about people." Sam commented.

"I don't get why she would be opposed to doing it for a career." Hannah continued.

"Well, she's already working two jobs, has a small child, that kinda makes the task seem daunting." Sam reasoned, "Give her time, maybe now that it's been put out there, she'll change her mind."

The next afternoon, Sam was fertilizing Mrs. Lawson's vegetable patch with bone meal, when Mr. Lawson came up to the finch, surrounding the patch. "Hey, Sam," He called out, "I got a favor I wanna ask ya."

"Sure, boss." Sam responded, raising his head, "Anything."

"We lost a couple of hands this morning." Mr. Lawson explained, "Don't worry, no one's hurt, well, not badly or anything, put we could use a little help with the cabbage."

"Of course, just let me finish this." Sam requested.

They had a harvester, but the Lawsons and the farm hand still had to cut the leaves and stem by hand. This could be somewhat dangerous, as Sam was finding out the hard way.

"Hey, Sam you're holding up the line!" The ruddy farmhand called to him.

"Hey, give the guy a break!" The female hand called back, "You weren't that goof your first time either!" After a beat, she added, "That didn't come out how I meant it.

Still working everyone burst out laughing.

That night, Hannah looked into the fridge to discover it was the night.

It was the night Sam had prepared the mushroom dish.

She knew they would never eat it and she didn't blame them. She had tried it and something about the ingredients combined just made it utterly disgusting. She had to come up with something else to feed them.

Then she got an idea.

Sometimes, to make sure the leftovers got used up, Sam would make catch-all casseroles out of them (Ever if the leftover overs ere already casseroles to begin with). They tended to be hit or miss. The first thing Hannah did was put bread come down in a casserole dish, then washed the sauce Sam had put on the mushrooms. Then she mixed them with the chicken and noodles from last night, the half of an onion topped polish sausage Reason had brought over from the dinner, and what remained of the Hunter's Chicken from Monday, which at that point was mostly Zuccarini.

Sitting the cheesy mess in front of the children, she told out portions to both, who ate it without complaint. She would call that success.

"So, where do you head out tomorrow?" Hannah asked, that night over the video call.

The boys for their part were squirming with excitement. They're Daddy was finally coming back home!

"First thing in the morning." Sam told her, "I should be back by noon." Eying the boys he added, "Something some people seem very excited about."

"Yes!" Dean exclaimed, jumping up and down, "Yes, yes, yes!" Cas nodded empathically right along with him.

"I'm very excited to seem you, too, guys." Sam told him.

Sam was so excited, that, as he packed to go the neck morning, he nearly forgot to take the check for the work he did. He was packed up and was about to head out, when suddenly Mr. Lawson bloded out from behind the house, calling, "Sam! Wait!" When he finally got up to him, Sam could he was holding a small, but wide, slip of paper, "You almost forgot this." As he handed Sam the check he asked, "That, uh, is the amount you and my son agreed to, yes?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed, "Yeah, that's right. Thanks."

"Hey, you earned it kid." Mr. Lawson commented, before walking away, "Now, tell that girlfriend and kids of yours I said hi."

Sam grinned. "Will do." And with that, he got into the Impala and drove off.

Hannah was having a rough morning.

To be fair, she had brought some of it on herself. She wanted the boys to look nice for their father coming home, she pull out the gray vests sets they had brought but had never actually used, and had to force too _very_ excited toddlers into them. Even Castiel, who was usually more staient than Dean, especially when it came to getting dressed, wouldn't stop squirming.

Then once, she had gotten them dressed, they kept asking the same question:

"When is Daddy going to come home?" Dean asked, picking at the fruit on his plate.

"In a few hours, sweetie?" Hannah answered from the sink.

"How long is that?" Cas asked.

Hannah paused a moment, trying to figure out how to explain the concept to them. "It's more than a day, but less than minute."

"Is it more than three minutes?" Dean asked.

"Yes, Dean." Hannah answered.

This was how most of the day went.

"Has it been a few hours now?" Dean asked after breakfast.

"No, sweetie." Hannah answered. It had barely been ten minutes.

Shortly after breakfast the door knocked.

"Daddy!" Both boys shouted, running up the stairs.

"Boys, I don't think that's him." Hannah told them, as Sam had promised he'd call when he got closer to the bunker, "Boys, wait for Mommy!" Hannah got the door open and the twins faces fell when the saw it was Reason and Maudie.

"Well, that's not the response I was hopping for." Reason quipped.

"I'm sorry, they're just waiting for Sam to get home." Hannah explained, apologetically.

"It's okay, I totally get it." Reason assured her.

After the trade-off, even with the distraction Maudie offered, Dean or Cas was running up to Hannah every five minutes asking if their father was their yet. Eventually it got to the point where, Hannah, desperate for relief, did something she would never usually do: Put the kids in front of the TV.

In them middle of _Baby Loony Toons,_ Hannah finally got the call. "Oh, thank God."

"Everything okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it's just, the boys have been really wanting to see you." Hannah answered.

"Oh, "Sam responded, "I see. Well, I'm five minutes out, I'll see you all soon. Love you."

"Love you too." Hannah replied, hanging up.

Before Sam could even get through the door, he was attacked by a pair of egger toddlers. "We missed you!" Dean exclaimed, wrapping himself around Sam's leg.

"We missed you, we missed you, so, so, much!" Cas added, cutting off the circulation of the other leg.

"I missed you, too, guys." Sam told them, giving them rather awkward hugs. They weren't letting him go any time soon.

"May, I get here." Hannah requested.

"Definitely." Sam told her, going in for the kiss, cringing a little bit as Hannah hit the sunburn on the back of his neck.

"Are you alright?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "Just got a little sunburn while I was out there."

"Come on, guys." Hannah told the twins, "Let's let Daddy get down the stairs."

The boys let go and rush downed the stairs, their parents following them. Sam took his girlfriend by the hand. It was good to be home.


	42. A Painful Question

Mid-Morning on a Tuesday, Sam found himself sitting between some of the other days and the women who brought the daycare group, as their kids and his all set on the ground as one of the younger librarians, a woman with light brown hair she kept back in a prim bun, and dark rimmed glasses was on story number three.

The older group story time ages three to six, usually consisted of three to four stories, interspaces between brief activities, skits or songs, usually, that also usually had something to do with the theme of the books that were being read. Which in this case was bunnies?

The bunny in question right now, had been trying to ski and had just fallen into some kind of hole, where he was greeted by another bunny. "Oh, hi Mom!" Miss Honey, the librarian, read ash showed the picture of the skiing bunny and his mother, who was holding a cup of something, hot. She turned the page, revealing the pair sitting in chairs by the fire, reading, "Time to warm up, after a long day on the slopes."

That when a little girl who's dark hair was pulled back in half a dozen braids spoke up, "Where's the daddy?" Miss Honey didn't heat the girl, pointing out how there was a sign on the wall that read 'Den Sweet Den' which the other kids were much more interested in than the girl's repeated question of, "Where's the Daddy?" All except Maudie, who scrunched up her face at the question.

It had been about a week since Sam had got home, and Maudie had been thinking of the events that had occurred. Mainly how Dean and Cas' Daddy had been gone, but he came back.

So where was her daddy? Where did he go?

"I'm home!" Hannah called out a few hours later, getting out of the car, and walking into the bunker from the garage.

"Hey, "Sam greeted, coming up and kissing her cheek, "How'd it go?"

"I got everything delivered, and actually managed to sell a whole case of shampoo." Hannah answered, "Which I mean to order from the home office."

"Have I ever told you the business woman side of you is very attractive?" Sam quipped, grinning at her.

"Are you trying to flatter me?" Hannah asked.

"What?" Sam responded, innocently, "No?" Then he kissed her again, this time on the lips.

At first Hannah was pleased, but then saw something that made her eyes widen and her tone change. "Sam- "

"Don't worry, that's not where this was going." Sam assured her.

"I know, that's not what I meant." Hannah told him, then pointing behind her, continued, "We, ah, have a little spy."

He turned to see Maudie standing a few feet away from them, with a scrunched-up face.

"Hey, Maudie, uh, we didn't see you there." Sam began, not sure why he was being so awkward. Everything they had been doing was strictly G-rated.

"What you doing?" Maudie asked.

"I was kissing her." Sam admitted.

"Mommy doesn't kiss me that way." Maudie pointed out.

"Well, ah, adults who like each other kiss differently from kissing their children." Hannah explained awkwardly.

"Yes." Sam agreed, before walking over to the little girl. "Come on, you little voyeur." He continued, picking her up and spinning her around, making her squeal, "Let's go find Dean and Cas."

A few hours after that, Cas was sitting in a chair. flipping through a picture book, unaware that Sam and crawling on the floor behind him.

"Who's that sitting in my chair?" Sam growled playfully.

Cas looked around, then seeing no one, went back to the picture books.

"Who's sitting in my chair?" Sam growled again.

"Cas, look out!" Dean called for where he and Maudie were looking at their own books on the floor, pointing at Sam, "Daddy behind you!"

Sam sprung tickling Cas, who giggled. He tickled and gently poke, making the toddler squealed and laughed. After a while he turned, lumbering over to Dean, growling, "This is for celling me out!" Then he tickled and poke Dean, who squealed as well. Cas came to his brother's aid, leaping onto Sam's back and grabbing his neck. "How'd you even get up there?" Sam ask, carefully shaking, not hard enough to actually throw the tot off. Then he felt someone wrap around his knee. "Really? Et tu, Maudie?"

Just then there was a knock on the door.

"That's probably Maudie's mom." Sam announced, "You need to let go of me now, guys."

Sam lead the toddlers up the stairs and sure, enough, when the door was opened, Reason was standing. Immediately Maudie rushed her, wrapping her little arms around her legs.

"You have a good day, baby girl?" Reason asked, giving her a somewhat awkward hug back.

"Uh-huh." Maudie answered, nodding, "We went to the library and all the books were about bunnies, and…." Maudie chattered on like that for the next serval minutes.

"And the first sin was intercourse, the first sin was intercourse." The clearly insane woman dressed in black, railed on the screen.

The boys were finally asleep, and Sam and Hannah was curled up on the couch, watching the original film version of _Carrie._

"That's….not what happened." Hannah said, confused by what she was seeing and hearing.

"I know, honey, she's just crazy." Sam assured her, giving her a small squeeze, "That's actually kind of the point of this scene."

Hannah was silent, than asked, "Sam, do you think Maudie's okay?"

"Yes," Sam replied, at first confused, then, thinking he knew what Hannah was getting out said "She barely saw anything in all we did was kiss. Very chase kisses."

"It's not that." Hannah told him, "She kept getting this—this look today, like she was contemplating something, very hard."

"Uh, okay," Sam responded, "Well, she's three and, all things considered still has had a reasonably non-harrowing childhood so far. I'm sure it's nothing. She's probably getting to the 'why' stage, which means she'll ask whatever she's thinking about soon enough, and probably activates our two's 'why' stage."

"You're probably right." Hannah conceded, "At least I hope you are." After a beat she asked, "What is the 'why' stage?"

"Alright, baby girl," Reason began, a few days later, holding out Maudie's blue _Girl's Rule the Galaxy_ Shirt, and the white shirt that usually went with her jumper. It was warming up, but the weather was still fulxuating somewhat. "Pick one."

"Blue one." Maudie answered matter of factly.

"Okay," Reason agreed, pulling Maudie's night gown over her head, then handing her a fresh pull-up. "I believe you know how to get this on yourself."

Maudie, pulled up the pull-up, then Reason helped her with her socks. As the little pulled her pants up—she really only needed help with the buttoning—Maudie asked, "Mommy, why don't I have daddy?"

Reason froze at the question. "W-What?" She managed to get out.

"Dean and Cas have a Daddy." Maudie reasoned, "Why don't I?"

Suddenly imagines her flashed across her mind. Kit's truck, him directing her how to use the stick. The truck again, this time with him in the driver's seat, his lips touching hers. She didn't know why but his kiss tasted like oranges. Then it got darker. Her throwing her purity ring down the drainpipe, consumed with guilt. Pacing the room, Kit not answering her calls. Having to tell Avery what she had done. Finding Kit in bed with another girl. Avery, her finger in the air, demanding an explanation while Reason couldn't stop crying. Kit thrusting a hundred dollars in her hand, telling her to 'take care of it'. So much for that marriage promise. Running, running, running and never stopping….

Suddenly she started hyperventilating. _No, no, don't._ She ordered herself in her head, _there's no one here, but Maudie, she'll be scared, she won't know what to do—_

But it was too late. She was having a panic attack.

Her body went numb and her breathing got even faster. She began to shake as she fell against the wall. Before she lost all power of speech she tried to call out to her daughter, tell her to go get help, but it came out as chock of pain, and then her entire chest caught fire and she could only lie there and try to focus on reality.

"Mommy?!" Maudie called out, lepting off the bed and running to her, "Mommy!"

Reason tried to point to her phone, trying to tell her to call 911. She knew Maudie probably wouldn't be able to tell them where they lived, they had been working on that, but since they didn't actually have an address it was difficult, and even if she could somehow could, it would be impossible to find them. But it was the only thing she could think of. That was when the was a knock on the door. "Reason?" Sam's voice called out, "Reason, we're here."

Sam and Hannah were on the other side, having come together that morning to collect Maudie. That was when they heard Maudie screaming. "My mommy! Something's wrong with my mommy!"

Hannah blew the door open and they both ran through it, finding a distraught Maudie wailing incoherently and pointing to the bedroom.

"You take her, I'll go get Reason." Sam instructed, already heading for the bedroom. He found Reason on the ground, hyperventilating so hard she could barely breath, shaking. Recognizing the symptoms, Sam fell on his knees next to her, putting his hand on her knees. "Reason, Reason, you're having a panic attack. I need you to breath in and out for me, slowly. Can you do that for me?"

Reason began taking slow deep breaths in and out.

"It's alright." Sam repeated, "Everything's gonna be alright. I'm not gonna leave you."

That seemed to do the trick. Reason's breathing got to a regular and level and she seemed to calm down. "Thank you." She breathed, "Maudie—"

"She's alright." Sam assured her, "Hannah's got her. She's just scared." After a beat he asked, "Reason, what happened?"

"I need to check on Maudie first." Reason responded, getting to her feet.

"I didn't mean to hurt Mommy." Maudie moaned, calmed down somewhat but still crying.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sure you didn't do anything." Hannah insisted, trying to sooth the child.

That was when Reason came into the room followed by Sam.

"Mommy!" Maudie shouted.

"Mommy's okay." Reason assured her, picking her up and hugging her, "Mommy didn't mean to scare you like that."

"I's sorry, Mommy." Maudie said softly.

"No, no, Mommy's sorry." Reason insisted, "Mommy's sorry for scaring you."

"Sam," Hannah whispered as he walked over to her, "What happened?"

"She had some kind of panic attack." Sam whispered.

"What?" Hannah whispered back.

"It's something that's happens when people get really stressed and they start hypervenalating." Sam explained.

Addressing the young mother, she asked, "Reason, what happened?"

Reason just stared, gapping like a fish. For a moment they were worried she was going to have another attack. Getting her barring backs, she said, "Maudie, I think we need a moment alone."

Maudie responded by clinging to her mother tighter.

"Come on kid." Sam tried, scooping her up and spinning the air, making her squeal in spite of herself, "Let's go see how Dean and Cas are doing." He spin her around again, and she squealed more in delight.

"I'm going to get you some water." Hannah offered, getting up and going to where she knew Reason kept the glasses, taking a plastic cup decorated on the rime with little deer out and going to sink.

"She asked about her father." Reason told her numbly.

Hannah turned around. "What?"  
"She said that Dean and Cas had a Daddy and asked why she didn't." Reason explained, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Oh, Reason." Hannah breathed, sitting back down next to her.

Reason took the water from her and drank, trying to pull herself together. "Thank you."

Hannah just looked at her for a moment. Where _was_ Maudie's father? From what Hannah had come to understand, a man was typically required to procreate, but for as long as she had known the little family, there had never been a man. It had always just been Reason and Maudie. And something had _had_ to know have happened for her to have a reaction like that. But because of that very reaction, she knew she couldn't ask.

"Go ahead and ask it." Reason spoke up, "I know you want to."

Since she had permission, Hannah just came out with it. "Where _is_ Maudie's father?"

"Probably hallway to graduating by now." Reason began, "Kissing some other girl. Doing – _that_ with some other girl. Two girls, probably, who have no clue about each other." She turned her head to face Hannah. "He was my best friend's brother. I had just got my learner's permeant and he was helping me practice when he was visiting from school. "

Hannah caught on to that. "Wait, how old was he? How old were _you?_ "

"Please, just let me get through this." Reason pleaded her voice hoarse even though she had barely got started. "And he was just so—charming. Like, when would he talk to me, he could make anything sound good. And he made me feel so special. So, when kissed me, I kissed him back. Eventually, as you can probably guess, one thing leads to another." She was quiet for a long moment after that.

"You don't have to finish if you don't want to." Hannah told her gently. This was clearly painful for the girl and it clearly wasn't going anywhere good.

"I think it's a little too late for that now." Reason replied, figuring that, if it was out there, it might as well all come out, "I didn't even like it. It felt—wrong, but he kept saying it was okay, we could get married later, that it would be okay. Then I started getting sick and he wouldn't answer his phone. I told his sister what had happened, what we had done. She wasn't even mad about it. She just—made an excuse for us to go up there and see him. That's when—that's when things got really bad. We caught him another girl and then we got into a fight and I told him I was pregnant and—and—he tried to say to it wasn't his, and then he-he—he gave me some money and told me to just 'take care of it'!"

Hannah could feel her fist balling. She never wanted to smite someone more in her life. Reason was in tears now, so she took the girl in her arms, only for her to pull back. Hannah just sat there, shocked for a moment, then she realized what was going on. "I could never condemned you, Reason."

"How?!" Reason wailed, "How can you not after what I just told you?!"

"Because I may be an embassary of Heaven, but I'm not God." Hannah answered firmly, "And what you told me basically was that you were a child who got taken in by charlatan, and made a mistake."

"But I know it was wrong, I knew it was a sin, and I did it anyway!" Reason protested.

"But you've clearly repented, right?" Hannah pointed out.

Reason nodded.

"Well, then you're forgiven." Hannah responded, though she had no authority to do that, "Now come out of the prayer closet and let me help you." Then she pulled Reason to her, letting the girl sob into her blazer.

"How do I tell her?" Reason sobbed, "How do I tell her, her father didn't love her? "

Eventually after Reason had cried herself out, and cleaned herself up some, they walked out to here Sam was standing by the Impala, looking worried.

"How is she?" Reason asked.

"She's good." Sam assured, looking back to where she was coloring with the boys in the back, "What about you?"

Reason just walked past him to the car. "Hannah, what happened in there?" Sam whispered.

"I'm not—sure I should tell you." Hannah told him. What Reason had disclosed to her seemed, private. Like something she shouldn't tell even him without permission.

Reason opened the back door. "Hi Mommy." Maudie exclaimed, waving at her.

"Hi, baby." Reason responded, leaning in to unbuckle the car seat, "Mommy needs to talk to you alone for a minute, okay?"

"Am I in trouble?" Maudie asked.

"No." Reason assured, as she carried her away from the car, "No one's in trouble. "She sat Maudie on the ground. "Maudie, what you asked—it just reminded Mommy of something that makes really, really sad. That's why she acted the way she did. But she had been able to handle it better. What happened _wasn't_ your fault, and I need you to know that."

"Okay, Mommy." Maudie agreed softly, but she sounded so sure.

"It's not." Reason repeated, "None of it is. You didn't know, you didn't have a choice. You have _nothing_ to feel bad about, do you understand?"

Maudie nodded.

Reason hugged her, then pulled back. " But—I think I need to answer your question, as I can. It's my fault, you don't have a Daddy. I trusted someone that I shouldn't have and…. well, that's a story for when you're bigger. But I'm so sorry that you have to suffer for my mistake." _And if you suffer for the mistake I might currently be making._ She was worried that this could do some physiological damage to the child down the road, that she was too young to really understand, but on the other hand, after the display this morning, she felt she owed Maudie some sort of explanation.

That was when Maudie did something unexpected. She wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. "It's okay, Mommy, I'm not mad."

Reason felt her heart swell. "Oh, you don't know what that means to be my sweet girl." She wrapped her arms around her little girl and squeezed. "But you know, at least that….that thing I did, one good thing came out of it. One very, very, great thing. It got me you. I love you more than anything in this world, Maud McCarthy. Always know that."

"I will, Mommy." Maudie promised.

When they got home, they ushered the children down the stairs and let them play. Maudie seemed fine now that she was assured her mother was okay, and after whatever Reason had said to her. Still, they were both worried. Sam was also worried about his girlfriend, who seemed almost haunted by whatever Reason had told her in the trailer.

Suddenly, Hannah could contain herself no longer. She threw herself around Sam's neck, hugging him. "Thank you." She breathed.

"For what?" Sam asked, pulling her, trying to comfort her.

"Just—thank you." Hannah repeated. Suddenly, she was so grateful for Sam. He would never do what Maudie's sperm donor—she refused to say the word _father_ to describe that individual—had done. He would never do what _her_ father had done, either.

Later that day, Sam got a surprise knock on the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Reason standing there.

"Believe it or not, I actually took off early." Reason explained, "I just couldn't—leave her here for so long after what happened."

"Sure, come on." Sam responded, "Everyone's ah, actually down for their nap right now, but afterwards I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see you."

Reason stepped inside. "Is, it, ah, okay if I go check on her if I'm, ah, really quiet about it?"

"She's your kid." Sam reminded her, "I, ah, I don't think I can stop you."

"Thanks." Reason replied, walking up before turning around, "How has, she, ah, been doing today? After, ah, you know, what happened?"

"Yeah." Sam responded, "She's barely missed a step."

Reason let out of a side of relief. She took a few steps forward then turned back around. "Did, ah, Hannah tell you what we talked about after you took Maudie to the car."

"No, her lips have been sealed." Sam assured her, "But, ah, whatever it was, I know it's bothering her."

"I'll free her from her burden." Reason promised, "I'll tell her she can tell you." She'd do it herself, but she felt that maybe Hannah might be having some trouble processing. Unburdening herself to her boyfriend might help. She had a good one. "But first I need to see my child."

Reason quietly crept into the boy's room where Maudie was sleeping in Dean's bed, next to him. Reason knelt down to them, watching her sleep. When she was sleeping, she sort reminded Reason of her little sister. Maudie had her aunt's noise too, and there were pictures somewhere out there that proved it. There was bit of Avery in their too. And of course, she favored Reason. They had the same hair, the same eyes, but she swore Maudie's were bluer.

And there wasn't trace of Kit in her.

Slowly, Maudie's eyes began to open, revealing those beautiful, blue eyes of her. "Mommy?"

"Hey, baby." Reason responded, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."  
"Mmmm, what's going on?" Maudie asked, still groggy.

"Mommy just—really wanted to see you, that's all." Reason answered.

"Oh." Maudie responded, "Can I'se go back to sleep now?"

"Yes, baby." Reason smiled at her, "You can go to sleep now."

The little girl closed her eyes, and her mother kissed her on the head, whispering, "I love you."


	43. Dinner Parties And Rings

Staring at all the rings before him, Sam was feeling majorly out of his depth.

He has just gotten off work and, seeing what might be his only opportunity to do so, had swung by the antique store, which was the only place nearby that might have what he was looking for. Well, maybe _Wal-Mart_ might, because they _did_ have a jewelry department.

But for right now, he was just thinking anyway. Thinking about doing something that could change everything.

His rational mind told him, it was too soon, they'd been together for what, a month in a half? They should take more time, move slowly. But a less rational part of his mind told him that he loved Hannah, he was mad for her, hat she was the most important thing in his life next to the boys. A part of his mind somewhere in the middle pointed out that while they had only been _officially_ dating for a month and half, they had known each other for more or less a year and knew practically everything about each other. They had basically gone through the courtship process while they were still just friends. But then that rational part popped up again with concerns about money and all those other things Jane Austen like to write about…

"Seeing anything you like, Sam?" Selene asked, her eyes parting over to where baby Samantha was bouncing in a chair.

"Ah, I don't know, to be honest." Sam admitted, then glanced up at the clock, "And, ah, actually I got to go. There's am this literacy thing as the library me and the girlfriend are taking the kids to."

"Your three-year-old kids?" Selene responded.

"Well, it's basically games about letters." Sam explained, "Thanks for getting these out for me."

"No problem." Selene told him "Have fun with the kiddies."

Sitting the dirty plates on the back of the sink, Serena Joy turned her head and, by chance, saw Sam and Hannah walk in with the kids. _Well,_ she thought, _I guess now is as good a time as any to ask them._ "Hey, Jerry!" She called out, "I'm gonna step out a minute."

"Right now?" Jerry called out, but the waitress was already gone.

Serena Joy approached them as they were getting the toddlers into booster seats. "Hey, guys." She greeted them, "What are you all doing here?"

"There was reading a program at the library today, and then the kids decided they wanted to come here for lunch." Sam explained, "We think a certain someone—" He gestured to Maudie, who was sat between the twins, who in turn, had their parents on either side of them, "Wanted to show her Mom nameplate she made."

"Really?" Serena Joy grinned, looking down at Maudie.

"I wroted my name like a big girl!" Maudie exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear as she held up a piece of purple construction paper with her man written on it in jagged marker scrawl.

"I did too!" Dean added, holding up his equally messy name plate.

"Me, too!" Castiel pipped up, copying his brother. To Serena Joy surprised, it had the little angel's hole first name on there.

"I see that." Serena Joy responded, before looking back up at the adults, "Did they actually—"

"No." Hannah admitted, "No, they had help."

"That activity was probably more for the older kids." Sam confessed.

"Ah, I see." Serena Joy responded, "Well, if you have a chance before you go, I'd, ah, like to talk to you about something."

Hannah and Sam exchanged looks. "Sure." Sam agreed.

After everyone had finished lunch, Hannah and Sam went off into the corner with Serena Joy while the children were showing Reason their name plates.

"Listen, how would you guys feel about a couple dinner party dinner next weekend?"

The hunter and angel were silent for a moment. "Couple dinner party?" Hannah finally repeated, confused.

"Yeah, you two, me, Rawls, pumpkin soup or lasagna, or something, probably charades or something after." Serena Joy summarized.

Hannah looked to Sam for guidance. "Is this a thing people do?"

"Yes, some people do." Sam answered awkwardly. He just wasn't sure it was thing any of them did.

"Look, we're running out of ways to stall introducing Rawls to my parents." Serena Joy came out with it, "I was thinking this might be a nice little practice run."

"You do know me and Rawls are about the same age, right?" Sam pointed out.

"It'll still work." Serena Joy assured them.

Hannah had some other concerns. "Wouldn't it be better for it to be with your own family? What about your sister and brother-in-law?"

"You mean my straight-laced sister and her equally straight-laced husband who's closet thing to skeleton in the closet is that he has a copy of the _Bachman Books_ that has the novel King asked them to stop printing?" Serena Joy countered, "Look, you guys have just enough crazy to be on a level with us, and then we can work up from there."

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks again. "So, you picked us _because_ of our dysfunction?" Sam recapped.

"Well, if you want to put it that way." Serena Joy responded, "Look, guys, please, it will still be fun, I promise."

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks. "So, when were you thinking about this happening?" Sam asked.

"So, they actually agreed to it?" Rawls asked, going through a box of his most recent inventory, a mix of older horror novels, as Serena Joy took the library of borrowing his kitchen.

"Yeah." Serena Joy confirmed, carefully placing on strip of pie crust over the other, trying to make a lattice crust, "We just need to set a date. How do you feel about next weekend?"

Rawls flipped a copy of _Pin_ back and forth in his hands awkwardly. "Actually, babe, I'm not really sure this is a such a good idea anymore."

Serena Joy looked up from her pie, "What?" She walked over to him, "Rawls, I just put it all together. I just got them to agree. I already bought a lasagna. I already stocked up on apple butter!"

Rawls gave her quizzical look.

"I was thinking of making an apple pie for dessert." Serena Joy explained.

Rawls looked down into the book in his hands. He wasn't sure why he was being so resistant to this. Maybe because he wasn't entirely sure about those two….

"Look, I promise, they will do nothing murdery." Serena Joy assured him.

"Well," Rawls smirked, "Since you already bought the apple butter…."

Serena Joy grinned back at him. Then, picking up a book from the bin, asked, "How did you get so many copies of _Rage,_ I thought they didn't make it anymore."

"You can actually find used copies pretty cheap on _Amazon."_ Rawls explained.

"Maybe we should find something else to bring." Hannah told Sam that next Friday, as the couple stood in the spirit second of _Wal-Mart._ They were trying to find a bottle of wine to take to Serena Joy's, but neither of them actually knew anything about wine.

"I'm not sure what else _to_ bring." Sam replied, pulling out yet another bottle of wine.

"Are you sure we even _need_ to bring something?" Hannah asked, "I mean, what if we insult them?"

"No, bringing something is customary." Sam told her, "I think. Alright, I'm gonna look up ideas for other things to bring."

"Mommy, can we get out now?" Dean asked from where he and his brother were sitting in the cart.

"While you do that, I'm going to go take the boys on walk." Hannah told Sam and she lifted Dean from the cart, "They've been sitting in the cart for a while."

"Yeah, we probably owe them a look down the c-a-n-d-y isle after all this. "Sam admitted.

"My name starts with C!" Cas exclaimed in response to his father's spelling as he was being plucked from the cart.

"That's right, buddy." Sam confirmed.

After a quick online search, and a walk around the store, they found common host gifts included Bouquet of flowers in a vase, boxed candies, potted plants, a tin of cookies, decorator candles, guest soaps, flavored vinegars, CD, or DVDs, Tickets to a movie or event, and, yes, wine.

"Okay, I think we can rule out DVD and tickets right now." Sam declared, as that seemed both expensive and excessive.

"Serena Joy's likely baking, so cookies are out too." Hannah reasoned.

"So maybe…potted plants?" Sam suggested.

Hannah looked up from the list. "Where do we go to find those?"

Meanwhile, Serena Joy had just got home, and was beginning to make preparations for that night. She took the lasagna out to thaw and put the rolls in the oven, before pulling out a bad of salad greens. Opening the bag up, she poured then into a large blue bowel, before tossing in some cherry tomatoes and pouring vinegrete dressing all over the thing. The she started on the pie.

First, she made the crust, which involved sifting, working in the butter and water and milk, until it was thick doughy mixture. Then, sitting it aside, she mixed the apples she had cut, a mixture of granny smith and pixie crunch with dried bits of apple, then smothered the whole thing liberally in apple butter, and added cinnamon. Then she sat both bowels aside and hopped in the shower.

Rawls arrived a bit before there guess did. "You want me to put on the coffee?" He asked, taking salad and sitting it on the table.

"At least get it ready to go." Serena Joy responded, putting the pie in to bake, "I figure I'll turn it one during the main course."

At that time, Sam and Hannah were dropping the twins off at Reason's.

"We'll see you in a few hour, little ones." Hannah assured them, giving them both a hug and a kiss.

"See you, Mommy." Dean and Cas said simontaiously. Then turning to Reason, Dean held out a bag of Strawberry Malt balls while Cas asked, "Do you want some?"

"Ah, no thanks." Reason responded, "But you can go see if Maudie wants some."

"Thanks for this, Reason." Sam told her, as the boys ran off to offer their friend Malt balls.

"When is it ever a problem?" Reason pointed out good-naturedly.

"What was that you told me once about just letting someone be grateful?" Sam reminded her, "Plus, I feel a little bad that they didn't invite you."

"Ah, she did, actually." Reason informed him, ushering the boys inside the trailer, "Don't get me wrong, she's my friend, and he's my boss, but, ah, this is something I'd rather _not_ be in the middle of. Have fun, guys."

"You, too." Sam responded, as they walked to the car.

The couple had just laid out the last of the food when there was a knock on the door. "That should be them, I'll go get it." Serena Joy declared, hurrying over to the door and opening it, revealing Sam and Hannah, who was holding a green glass bottle.

"Hey, guys." Sam greeted, "We got you something."

"We're not entirely sure what type it is." Hannah confessed as Serena Joy took the bottle.

After searching for another hour for a good plant, the couple gave up on that endeavor and, at the end of their rope, just grabbed the first reasonable priced thing they saw on the shelf.

"I'm sure it will be fine." Serena Joy assured her, going to the table with it. "You really didn't have to."

Hannah turned and gave Sam a questioning look. Did they just go through all that for nothing?

They wine they got was a deep orange and tasted somewhat light and crisp. Serena Joy got out the nicer glasses and poured it into those after she cut the lasagna.

"This is looks really good." Sam complimented.

"Don't get too impressed it's the time you shove in the oven and heat up. "Serena Joy admitted, "The only thing I really do is baked goods."

At first, the talk was small.

"So," Sam began, "How was everyone's day?"

"Well, we get one of those nightmare customers and of course he comes into my section." Serena Joy answered, stabbing at her salad, "Threw a fit when he found out we didn't make calzones, you would have thought it was my fault or something. It took me _and_ Edith to convince just to order a pasta plate and after he left, Jerry said he was this close to throwing the guy out." After seeing Rawls head poke up at the mention of his cusion, she added, "Don't worry, she's fine." Glancing back at her guest, she explained, "He's a bit over protective."

"I am _not_ overprotective." Rawls protested, "I'm the one in charge of her, while she's out here."

"Why is that, anyway?" Hannah asked, "Where are her parents?"

Sam shot her a look advising against this line of questioning.

"Well, we might as well ask." Hannah whispered back to him, "Besides, they opened the door."

"You do know we can still hear you right?" Rawls asked them, getting their attention again, "Anyway, the reason I'm in charge of her is because she ran away from home intent on making it to Nashville to start her music career, when the car broke down here."

"It was actually how we met, actually." Serena Joy added.

Serena Joy could still remember the day vividly. They had been in the middle of a busy restraunt with multiple problem customers. There was a couple who thought they were Gordon Ramsey finding anything they could to complain about, the woman making comments about the number of bubbles in her carbonated water, the man deciding his wanted his burger medium well instead of medium rare, and chewing out Josette, a waitress who had since quit, for not being able to read his mind, meanwhile Serena Joy was dealing with another customer who was once again insisting on something they didn't offer, a third customer that would not believe another patron who yes, was in a uniform but one clearly different to the one _Hot Spot_ waitresses wore, did not work there and therefore was not expected to serve said third customer and no, they weren't going to fire her ,because she didn't work here, no matter how many people explained it to said third customer, and a couple parents glued to their phones were letting their kids run while, grabbing things and throwing them at each other. She didn't know for certain but she often wondered if that night was supposing to be a full moon. And what in all that chaos should happen but a large _boom_ from outside, that several people, Serena Joy included, ran out to see what it was. What they found was an old white Cadillac with smoke billowing out of it, a redhead who didn't even look old enough to drive behind the wheel.

After managing to get someone to contact out of the girl, they called Rawls, and a couple of hours later, the man showed up looking worst for wear. "Edith, what were thinking?!" He demanded, as he hurried over to where the girl was sitting in a booth, Serena Joy standing over her, "How did you even get out here?"

"Well, I think the broke down caddy outside can answer that question." Serena Joy quipped.

He shouts her a look like, _Really?_

"Sorry." Serena Joy responded, looking down.

"I'm ready for my life to start." Edith spoke up, "If I don't start soon—I'm gonna miss my chance."

"Edith, you're fifteen." Rawls challenged, "You're not even out of high school, you don't even have an actual license, you could have been arrested…. where's your mother?"

"Probably still out in Arizona with her new husband and brood of replacement kids." Edith huffed, "Why? What's she's gotta do with any of this?"

Rawls paced a few moments, trying to think of what to do. "Okay, where's _my_ mother?"

"Jail." Edith answered.

Rawls looked at her in surprise. "What, did they find out she was stamps or…." His voice trailed off, "Never mind. Okay, then, I guess you're stuck with me."

"What?" Edith responded.

"Well, you can't stay on your own, if I take you back to Uncle Doug, you'll only run away again, clearly your mom and my mom aren't an option, so—" Rawls let his voice trailed off, leaning down to look at her, "I'll make you a deal. We'll set up shop somewhere, you finish school and if you want to take off after that, I won't stop you. Deal?"

Edith looked at him. "Deal."

"How did she get to Kansas if she was meaning to get to Tennessee?" Sam asked.

"Took a wrong turn while trying to get to Arkansas." Rawls answered.

"Well, at least we know what we're going to say now if Mom and Dad ask." Serena Joy spoke up, before taking a bite of her lasagna, "We met when he went to rescue his wayward cusion. Actually, sounds kinda noble when you but it that way."

Sam moved the salad around in his plate as, unlike Hannah, he realized this left them open to questions regarding the boys.

"I'm not going to ask." Rawls assured him, as if reading his mind.

"Excuse me." Sam responded.

"I'm not gonna ask about the boys." Rawls elaborated, "Besides, I think I've already figured it out, anyway."

Hannah and Sam exchanged worried looks. "You have?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, they're actually your nephews." Rawls answered, "But I wasn't gonna make a big deal out of it."

"Nephews?" Hannah repeated, confused.

"Well, this one's—" Rawls began, pointing at Sam with his fork, "Has a brother who is nowhere to be found. One of the twins had the same name as aforementioned brother. I figured, your brother's actually dead, the kids are biologically his, but they were so young they wound up calling you Mommy and Daddy, and you didn't have the heart to tell them the truth. Can't say I blame you for that one."

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks. Did they dare add another half-truth on the pile of half-truths, cover-ups, and obfuscations they had surmounted when it came to the origin of their children? In the end they did. "Something like that." Sam said finally. Rawls had been somewhat on the mark, but it was closer than anything else. Unless they wanted to tell him, his stockgirl was a part-time witch.

Rawls froze a moment, not sure how to respond since they actually admitted it. "Sorry for your lost." He said, at last, somewhat awkwardly.

"Thanks." Sam replied; equality as awkward.

All was quiet for a moment until something occurred to Hannah. She held her tongue for a few moments, then finally, unable to help herself, asked, "I'm sorry, but what do you think happened to their biological mother?"

"Well, I had a couple of theories on that." Rawls admitted, "Including that I'm looking at her." _Although that might be projecting on my part._

It took a moment for Hannah to realize what he was getting at. "Oh, you think—" Hannah began, then shook her head.

Serena Joy gave Rawls a look. "Why would Sam start a relationship with his brother's widow?" She knew that Dean wasn't actually dead, but still, Rawls theory seemed bizarre to her, and Rawls romantic didn't occur to her at that moment.

"Ever hear of a Levite marriage?" Rawls responded.

"They're not Jewish!" Serena Joy pointed out, "Besides, I don't think they actually practice anymore, and the widow just takes the sandal. Plus, as you pointed, the guy apparently has heirs."

Part trying to change the subject, part actually curious, Sam asked, "How—exactly do you know all that?" Sam had actually known that before from it coming up in research, and he assumed Hannah knew something about it from actually being alive when it was skill practiced, but he wasn't sure how anyone else would learn it, or ever need that knowledge unless they were Jewish.

" _Hallmark_ movie." The couple across from them said almost in unison. "There's this older _Hallmark_ movie that involves a Levite marriage, Rawls watched it with me once."

"Really?" Hannah spoke up, also trying to change the subject, "Tell us more."

Things went a lot more smoothly after that, and eventually, Serena Joy brought out the pie. It had been cooked to a golden brown, with bubbly bits of apples sticking out from beneath a lattice crust. "I got some ice cream in the fridge, or cheese if anyone wants it."

"Why would you—put cheese on a dessert?" Hannah asked.

"Just on apple pie." Rawls explained, "Apple and yellow cheese pair well together."

"Though this one's the only guy I've ever seen do it outside of my dad and Robert De Niro in _Taxi Driver."_ Serena Joy added. Then she went to get the coffee.

"Here, let me help you with that." Rawls offered, standing up, as Sam and Hannah also did, presumably to help as well.

"Well, now, if you're all gonna help we might as well do it self-serve." Serena Joy quipped.

"I'll go, you two sit down." Hannah told them, gesturing with her hand to the chairs.

"Oh, I see, what's going on here now." Rawls smirked towards Sam, "They wanna gossip about us."

"Dude, we're literally a foot away from the kitchen." Serena Joy pointed out, "You can still hear everything we say Now, come on." As the women walked off, she called back, "By the way, how do you two actually take your coffee? I got milk, I got sweetener, and I got half a dozen syrup…"

In the end, Serena Joy and Sam had there's black with a little bit of hazelnut syrup in it, Rawls had his black with two sweetener packets, and Hannah copied his example. She did the same thing on the pie, carefully putting a slice of yellow cheese on top. Apprehensively putting a forkful into her mouth, she was met with a slightly chucky, partly smooth and gooey texture from the apple mixture, and mix of sweet and savory. "He's right." Hannah declared, "Apple and cheese pair well together." Taking another forkful, she shoved it at Sam. "Here, try some."

"No, that's really not necessary." Sam told her.

"Come on, it's good, just a little." Hannah insisted.

Sam finally took the offered pie sample. "Okay, not bad."

That was when Rawls chuckled.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Nothing." Rawls responded, "I guess I just never picture you two as—that couple that feeds each other."

"Oh they were that kind of couple before they were a couple." Serena Joy informed her boyfriend, "In fact, they've been so—coupley I'm surprised it took them as long as they did."

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks. Here they went again. "Well, they're were—things we had to figure out." Hannah said.

"Let's just say it wasn't exactly love at first sight." Sam added, "In fact, I'm pretty sure she hared me the first time we met."

Hannah looked almost shocked. "I didn't hate you." She protested, "I mean, I didn't _like_ you either…."

Sam laughed.

"Well, I wasn't given the impression you thought much of me, either." Hannah pointed out.

It was true. Back then she had been just another angel and he had other things on his mind at that moment. When she tied his brother to chair, that didn't exactly help his impression of her. That seemed like a lifetime ago now, even thought it had only been a year or so. It almost made it hard to believe they were here, now.

"How did you two meet, exactly?" Serena Joy asked. She knew she'd only get a sanitized version of what happened, but she was curious, and as long as they were talking about it…

"She was, ah, the right hand woman of a friend of ours." Sam, "Me and Dean, the first Dean…"

"You gonna be okay to talk about this?" Rawls asked.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be fine." Sam assured him, feeling sort of guilty for the deception.

"I don't know if I'd say I was the right hand…" Hannah began modestly.

"Well, you seem to be keeping things running from what I saw." Sam told her, then changing the subject before things could go into too much details, "What about you two? How did this get it start?"

"Well, it turns out, they may be right about the way to a man's heart being through his stomach." Serena Joy answered, "He'd eat a piece of one of my cakes everyday for a month before he asked me out for coffee."

"It wasn't always the cake." Rawls responded, "Sometimes it was the pie."

A part of Sam never really realized charades was an actual thing, people actually did.

They had finished dinner and were now a sitting on the couch, trying to figure out why Serena Joy was on her knees with her hands in the air, before the timer ran out.

"You're—begging, no, praying," Rawls was guessing, "Praying for—for rain! Praying for—"

Suddenly, Sam thought he had it. "Livin' on a prayer!"

"Yes." Serena Joy confirmed, going over to the coffee table to reset the timer.

"How did you get that?" Rawls whispered over to Sam.

"Classic rock was basically all we listened to growing up." Sam whispered back, then he glanced over at Hannah and noticed her looking down, "Hey, you okay babe?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hannah told him, giving him a small smile. Thought, if she was being honest, she was starting to get a little embarrassed. She was the only one who hadn't guessed anything, yet.

"Sam, your turn." Serena Joy told him, sitting back down.

Sam got wrong. He thought he knew what was wrong, and he knew something that might fix it. When Sam got to the center of the room, he started imitating a projector.

"Movie." Rawls guessed.

"One word." Serena Joy added, as Sam held up one finger.

That when thing got confusing. Sam started by spreading his arms out in circle, then making crazy, extreme faces.

"I got nothin'." Rawls commented.

However, the wheels were turning in a certain angel's mind. Sam started acting he was strangling someone and it clicked for her. " _Sunrise_!" She called out.

"Yes!" Sam confirmed, before starting back to the loveseat.

The other couple exchanged looks. "What the heck is that?" Serena Joy asked.

"It's an old German film." Hannah answered, "A man tried to kill his wife and they wind up going on their second honeymoon instead." After a beat she added, "It's better than it sounds."

"Not a high bar." Serena Joy commented, "Come on, your turn."

Hannah stood up and began flipping through an imaginary book.

"Wow, you read a lot of books." Serena Joy commented. This was the third book the angel had done. "Three words."

Then Hannah started stomping around and stamping, and stabbing and laughing, confusing everyone.  
" _Cain's Blood_?" Serena Joy guessed.

Hannah shook her head, then began imitating a hug.

"Hannah, honey," Sam spoke up, "I don't think the _Day of Barney_ Trilogy counts as a book."

"The what of what?" Serena Joy responded.

"The _Day of Barney_." Hannah repeated, "It's a series of 'Barny the Dinosaur fanfictions—"

"Though that's using the term _fan_ pretty loosely." Sam cut in. He had given the tales a quickly scroll thought after the incident and he was fairly certain Brian Bull did not like the show.

"Where Barney is really malevolent entity that compel children to kill their parents and takes over the world." Hannah continued, "He's also caused serval disasters throughout history. I—found it online one night when I couldn't sleep."

Sam still remember the day he came home from work and found the twins plus Maudie, in a salt circle that had been made in devil's trap while Hannah was tearing the stacks apart trying to find a way to defeat 'the purple fiend'. Eventually from what he could gather she had let the kids watch PBS that day and, upon discovering there was an actual show about an actual purple dinosaur actually named Barney, freaked out. It took Sam about an hour and a half and several visual aids to convince Hannah the kids were not in any danger.

In the here and now, upon hearing their explanation, Rawls and Serena Joy burst out laughing, followed by Sam, and even Hannah, who could now see some of the humor.

"Tell you what," Rawls got out in-between laughs, "I say it counts."

"Yeah, I'm with him." Serena Joy laughed, "Affinity spaces still count as reading!"

"So, did things go the way you want it to?" Sam asked Serena Joy as they prepared to leave.

"Well, it took a couple of turns I wasn't expecting," Serena Joy admitted, "But, I, ah, I think it went well. Yeah, I think we might be ready for the real thing now." Serena Joy hugged them both, "Thanks guys. And, ah, thanks for the wine."

"It was our pleasure." Hannah assured her, "Actually, finding it was quite horrible."

Serena Joy laughed.

"Thank you for the extra pieces of pie." Hannah continued, gesturing to the boxes in her hand.

"No problem." Serena Joy replied, before they parted ways.

That Monday afternoon, Sam found himself once again looking at Selene's ring selection.

"See anything, you like, Sam?" Selene asked again.

That was when a golden ring caught Sam's eye. It had different the band ending in hands around a heart topped with the grown. "Hey, Selene," He asked, "What's this?"

Picking up Samantha, Selene walked over and looked at it. "It's a claddagh." She answered, "A traditional Irish ring named for the village it originated in. The hands represent friendship, the heart represent love, and the crown represent loyalty. Irish American will use it as friendship rings…or engagement rings."

Something about that just struck Sam as right. "I'll take it."


	44. Easter Proposal

**AN: It's ten O right and I only have the title chapters for next week, but it was worth it. Sorry it's so late. Happy Easter.**

"Cas, hold still minute. "Hannah instructed as she lowered the blue and purple plaid sweater vests over his head.

It was a few days before Easter and the family was going to the egg hunt at church, and Hannah insisted the boys needed something nicer to wear.

Castiel obeyed, letting his mother side the vest over his exposed wing.

"How does it feel?" Hannah asked.

"Okay." Cas answered.

"Not too snug?" Hannah asked.

"What does snug mean?" Cas asked.

"Like tight." Sam spoke up from where he was helping Dean with his vest.

"No." Cas answered.

"Daddy," Dean spoke up, "Are you gonna have to weak a vest too?"

"Well, I think that's up to Mommy." Sam responded, then shot Hannah a pleading look.

"Mommy helps you dress, too?" Dean asked, interrupting what Sam meant differently.

"No, no, buddy, Daddy's not that decrepit yet." Sam responded.

"What's decrepit mean?" Dean asked. So far, the boys why stage was more of a what stage.

"It's when your body is all achy and it's harder to do things on your own." Sam explained.

After finding clothes that fit, they went and checked out.

"Are you sure we should be spending this much for outfits they're only gonna wear one time?" Sam whispered as they left the store.

"They're not going to wear it one time." Hannah reasoned, "They might be able to wear it next year, or they're might be another special occasion."

Hannah's words made Sam subconsciously put his hand in pocket, feeling the box that had quickly become his constant companion.

He hadn't asked yet. He was going to, but he still had to plan out how he was going to do it. He didn't want to do anything too gushy or sappy or cliché, but he still wanted to make it special.

"You want to do WHAT?!" Serena Joy exclaimed back at Rawls' apartment in Lebanon.

"I want to go to church with you on Sunday to meet your parents." Rawls recapped.

"You do this Sunday is _Easter,_ right?" Serena Joy reminded her, "You know, the day where Jesus rose from the grave, kinda a big holiday?"

"Well, what better time to do it?" Rawls reasoned.

"A regular day?" Serena Joy responded, "A day when the stakes are less high, when everyone's less stressed."

"Look, we can't keep stalling." Rawls countered, "We had that dry run with your friends, maybe it's time to just rip off the Band-Aid."

Serena Joy thought this over for a moment. "Alright, I guess it's worth a shot. Now, if you excuse me, I have go and buy a Nutella."

"Why?" Rawls asked as he watched her turned around.

"I'm gonna make my dad's favorite monkey bread to smooth things along." Serena Joy called back to him.

Meanwhile, Pastor Jeffery Mackey was on the phone with one of his parishioners.

"I'm so sorry, Sister Jean." He was saying, "I really hope you get better soon. I'll be praying for you." After a beat, listening to the woman talked, he said, "Yes, you better get off and rest your voice."

With that they hung up and Pastor Jeff ran his head through his hands. The woman who usual did a solo during the Easter service apparently had Laryngitis, and he didn't have anyone to feel her spot. He supposed they didn't actually _need_ a solo, but it was tradition, so breaking it felt a bit odd. Maybe he could grab someone else from the choir, but who?

Meanwhile, Reason was dusting the church piano, while Maudie was playing in the pews.

Reason sometimes felt bad that she wasn't really part of the church, only took or asked people to take Maudie and sit in the back when she had Sunday morning off, so when Serena Joy mentioned that they needed someone to clean that day, something inside her said to offer.

Having several of her toys set up around her, Maudie began to lead a song, "Zacchaeus was a wee little man and wee little man was he…"

Reason chuckled. According to the Miss Nellie, in the toddler room, her daughter had bit of a preoccupation with that, at least white in church. At ease, she started to sing along with her daughter. "He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see…"

By chance, Pastor Jim had stepped out of his office and heard singing from down the hall. Singing that wasn't quite bad. Clear, pure, actually pretty well in tune. He walked down the hall to investigate.

He came to sanctuary to see a young woman polishing piano, singing along with the small child a few feet away, "When the Savior passed that way, he looked up in the tree…." However, her voice trailed off when she realized they had an audience.

"Only me, ma'am." Pastor Jeff assured her.

"I was told you needed some cleaning done." Reason told him nervously, "I hope it's okay, that I'm volunteered."

"Well, usually members of the congregations do it, but I'm not gonna complain." Pastor Jeff responded, "That, um, that's a lovely singing voice you got there."

Feeling somewhat bashful, Reason looked down, blushing. "Thank you, really, it's nothing."

"Really, you're quite, good." Pastor Jeff assured her, then getting an idea, asked, "Say, how do you feel about being up in public?"

"I'm not sure." Reason answered, "Why?"

"I just had the woman who usually does the solo at Easter services call in with a case of Largenditisis." Pastor Jeff explained, "Which means I have less than a week to find a replacement and suddenly here you are…."

Seeing where this was going, Reason began to slowly back away, "No, I couldn't possibly. Like you said, I'm not even a member…."

"Well, we've had guest speakers before." Pastor Jeff reasoned, "Why not a guest singer?"

It wasn't that Reason didn't like to sing in front of people; she had been choir girl once. But hadn't really sung like that in years and really didn't want to do it in front of bunch of people she barely knew. "I'm really not, comfortable with that."

"Okay, then, I won't hound you." Pastor Jeff told her, "I need to go make a few calls." He turned to leave and then turned around and asked, "But you please at least think about it?"

"Alright." Reason relented somewhat, "But I'd still line someone else up if I were you."

"Thank you." Pastor Jeff berthed, "Do you need a little help with that?"

"I thought you just said you had to make some calls." Reason reminded him.

"Well, I can't leave you here to do all the cleaning yourself, now can I?" Pastor Jeff reasoned.

Meanwhile in Oklahoma, Elsbeth Rawls sitting in her car, staring at the faces in her rearview mirror. The girls were sitting side by side in reverse order, Dorian-Selene by the window, Scarlett in the mirror and Venessa by the other window. Then she looked back at the phone in her hand, hitting the speed dial and made a call. "Hey, Benny, it's Elsbeth." She said, "I know this wasn't exactly planned, but, ah, how would you feel about me and the girls coming down for Easter?"

"You've had the ring for how long?" Garth asked on the other end of the phone with Sam.

"About a week." Sam said, feeling exposed in the main room of the bunker, looking around to make sure the wrong people weren't around to hear. "So, how did you do it?"

Yes, he was asking Garth for relationship advice. He was the only person Sam knew who had actually proposed to a woman. Well, the only one still alive anyway.  
"Just brought the ring, asked her dad, which, you might want to do first unless you want to get struck by lightning—" Garth began.

"We have no clue where her dad is." Sam told him, "He's –actually been MIA for a century or so, I hate to be the one to break it to you."

"Oh." Garth responded, "Well, that complicates that part."

That was how Sam wound up under a tree in the thin woods that surrounded the road the was the bunker was on, his head bowed.

"You, ah, you probably know what I'm about to ask you here." Sam began, "So, ah, if you don't strike me down with lightening, or send a plague of boils or anything, I'm gonna assume that that's your blessing."

Sam waited for an hour, and when nothing happened, he started back to the bunker.

The day before Easter, Rawls took off early so he was at the door when Elsbeth and girled arrived. "Hey, there." He said as he was attacked by the two older girls. "Ugh! Need to breathe Kiddos."

As they let him go Scarlet asked. "Uncle Benny does the Easter Bunny know where you live?"

"Of course, he does." Rawls assured her as they came inside. As Dory and Elsbeth walked past he crouched down asking, "And how's my littlest girl doing?"

Dory responded by hiding behind Elsbeth's leg.

"That's okay." Rawls said, standing up, "We don't have to talk right now."

Covering Dory's ears, Elsbeth said, "Yeah, she's still having some social issues. One of the reasons I wanted to come down was I hoped a change of scenery might be good for her."

"It couldn't hurt." Rawls admitted, ushering them inside.

The afternoon before Easter, Reason got a call. "Hello?"

"Hey, Miss McCarthy, it's Pastor Jeff." The man on the other end began, "Look, I just got canceled on, again, would you please have reconsidered."

"I'm sorry, but…" Reason began, then sighed, "Do you really have no one else to do it?"

"No one." Pastor Jeff confirmed, "You'd think I'd been trying to get a large animal instead of a singer."

"Okay, I'll do it." Reason agreed, "What do you want me to sing?"

The night before Easter, Sam and Hannah did what millions of parents across the country was doing: Playing the Easter Bunny.

"Why is it that every significant holiday has a fictional character that bestows sweets and toys to good children?" Hannah asked, adjusted the chocolate bunny in the basket.

"Well, Thanksgiving doesn't have one." Sam quipped, "Honestly, I have no clue what bunnies have to do with Easter whatsoever. Or eggs for that matter."

"Hmm." Hannah mused, adjusting the goodies some more, then noticing Sam reaching into his pocket, "Sam, why do you keep putting your hand in your pocket?"

Sam jutted somewhat. "Huh?"

"It's just you've been doing this." She put her own hand in her own pocket, "A lot lately."

"Uh, umm," Sam began, tumbling for an answer, "Just a nervous tick."

Hannah narrowed her eyes and cocked her head slightly. "But I've never seen you do that before."

"Ah, it must be a new one." Sam covered, "Thanks for pointing it out to me." Then he quickly removed his hand from his pocket.  
Hannah didn't fully convince, but let it go, instead pulling out some a foil-covered rabbit and unwrapping it, taking a bite.

"Looks like someone couldn't wait until morning." Sam teased.

"These have been in my closet all week." Hannah declared with a mouthful of chocolate, "It made me want some."

That morning, Sam was waking up be someone nudging him awake. His eyes opened to seen Hannah, flanked by the twins, who were both doing little excited dances.

"I think they're ready." Hannah informed him.

They boys ran ahead of them down the hall, practically diving into the shared basket with two chocolate bunnies, little flocked rabbits, a yellow one for Dean and a blue one for Cas and one bag of jelly beans that the parents had assumed with do for both children.

"Daddy, what this?" Dean asked, holding up his bunny.

"It's a chocolate bunny." Sam answered, "You eat it."

The toddler's bright olive eyes widened in horror, upset at the prospect of eating a rabbit. Cas looked more than little upset as well.

Realizing the mistake, Sam quickly corrected. "They're not real bunnies, guys. They're just candy that's been shaped like bunnies. No bunnies were harmed in the making of this candy."

That seemed to calm them both down, but Cas asked, "How they make the candy shaped like bunnies?"

"Yeah," Dean agreed, "Daddy, how?"

Sam was silent for a moment, trying to think. "Well, ah, I'm sure they, uh, have some kind of mold they use at the factory."

Satisfied, the boys moved on to a new question. "Can we eat them now?" Dean asked.

"Later, sweetie." Hannah said, "You haven't even had breakfast yet."

The boys faces fell.

Trying something different, Hannah informed them, "You know, I think we might actually have some toaster struttles in the fridge. _And_ scramblers." Both boys loved the heat-up pastries, though they had different preferences; Dean preferred toaster struttles while Cas preferred toaster scramblers.

The distraction worked and both boys went running towards the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Maudie had just gotten up and was also getting into her cloth Easter bag, which resembled a baby chick. In hers was also a chocolate bunny, a pink flocked plastic bunny that toddler automatically noticed resembled one of her banks, only to find to her disappointment that it didn't have a hole. But she didn't mind, hugging it even thought it was hard. Then she noticed a flat stick, with pictures of Jesus on it. "Mommy, what this say?" She asked, pointing to the middle which was yellow with red letters.

"The life of Christ." Reason answered, setting down on the floor and pulling her daughter into her lap. "See, there's his birth, and him in the temple at twelve—"

"What happened at the temple?" Maudie asked.

 _Right, I haven't taught her about that, yet._ Reason thought. "Well, he went there are talked to the teachers and everyone was really impressed, but Mary and Joseph didn't know where he had gone, so he scared him, so, he didn't do anything like that again until he was older."

At that point, Maudie moved on to another question. "What're all these?" She asked, pointing at the marks and symbols on the clear part of the sticks.

"Well, these," Reason began, pointing to the symbols, "Are numbers. And one day soon, you're gonna be able to read them." Suddenly Reason felt unsure about giving such a practical gift to a three-year-old, and also wondered if maybe she was getting just a little ahead of herself.

"Can you read them to me?" Maudie asked.

Reason brushed a hand through Maudie's hair. "Of course, I can, baby. One…"

"See Scarlet?" Venessa declared as they walked into the living room, "I told you the Easter Bunny would be able to find us!" At seven, Vanessa was starting to figure out that certain holiday figures weren't on the up and up, but was keeping quiet because of her sisters.

Scarlet ran out of the guest bedroom they had all been sharing, followed by Dory, who were both greeted by a three near identical baskets on the coffee table: One with a yellow ribbon woven through the handle, one with a pink ribbon, and a new one with a lavender ribbon.

While the older girls were tearing into their baskets, Dory was just standing there, hugging her fawn, staring at the baskets like she didn't know what to do with them.

Elsbeth walked over and crouched down in front of the little girl. "Don't you want to see what the Easter Bunny brought you, sweetie?"

Meanwhile, Scarlett was pulling a little blue egg out of hers. "What's this?"

"It's a kaleidoscope." Rawls said, walking over to her, "You put your eye up to it like this, see?"

Scarlett did as her uncle instructed and saw a mass of different color and shapes. "Oh, pretty!"

Getting up while she was distracted, Rawls took Dory's basket and brought it over to her. "Maybe there's a kaleidoscope in there, too?" Elsbeth suggested perhaps a bit too brightly, knowing that there was in fact an egg kaleidoscope in there along with a chocolate bunny, and malted eggs, just like her sisters had got, and a plush Peter Rabbit like the girls had got last year.

Dory finally picked up the rabbit toy and started messing with the ears, smiling.

Elsbeth and Rawls exchanged worried looks.

Sam took back what he had said about the price. The outfits were worth every penny as he watched the twin, in little sweater vests and matching boy ties trying open the container of eggs they were taking to church, that he barely had the heart to make them stop.

"What're we gonna do with them?" Cas asked.

"Well, we're gonna hide them later and you and a bunch of other kids are going to find them." Sam explained.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because it's fun." Sam answered.

"Why?" Cas echoed.

"Because…I don't really have an answer for that guys, I'm gonna be honest with you." Sam confessed.

Just then, thankfully, Hannah stepped into the room.

"Mommy, you look pretty!" Dean declared while Cas nodded emphatically in agreement.

Hannah was currently wearing a knee- length dress colored with bright blues and purples, matching the twins' outfit and in a similar design too, with spaghetti straps that she seemed rather unsure about, as she kept messing with them, with a flat pair of leather sandals on her feet.

"They're right, honey, you really do." Sam agreed, just staring. Hannah didn't get dressed up often, which is probably the twins were impressed whenever they saw their mother in a nice dress, and he just enjoyed looking at her.

"You look rather nice yourself." Hannah complimented.

Sam chuckled looking down. "Oh, it's an old shirt."

Meanwhile, Reason, dressed in the poplin from Christmas, had one eye in the mirror and the other eye on Maudie, who was dressed in the brown plaid, this time minus the sweater, and playing on the bed with her new bunny, as she tried to do something with her hair. She picked it up, put it back down again, and then picked it up and tried tying it into a bun. That was when the doorbell rang.

Running to the door, she opened it to find Serena Joy holding a covered pan. "Let me guess," Serena Joy began, looking the younger woman up and down, "You were trying to do something different with your hair."

"How did you—" Reason began.

"The bun's starting to come undone, sweetie." Serena Joy informed her.

Reason but a hand to her head, and found it was true.

"I have some bobby pins in the car," Serena Joy offered, "Come on."

A minute later Reason was sitting on the toilet while Serena Joy strategically placed the hair pins into her hair.

Meanwhile, Elsbeth was running a ribbon through one of Dory's pigtails.

She had pinned Vanessa's wavy locks with dark pink ribbon, Scarlet's hair was done back in s a braid with a green ribbon running through it, and she had Dory's hair into pigtails running a blue ribbon into each.

"You all look so beautiful." Elsbeth told them.

"Thank you, Mama." Scarlet called out.

Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Benny, can you get that?!" Elsbeth called out to them.

"I probably should see as it's my house. "Rawls responded, heading towards the door. He opened it up, revealing Serena Joy. "Hey, everything okay?"

"Yeah, just wanted to make sure we were still on for today." Serena Joy assured him.

"Actually, I was thinking maybe now's not the best time given my current, um, complication." He gestured with his head to the visiting family.

However, this action got the girl's attention. "Who's that?" Scarlet pipped up.

Rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, he said, "Ah, girls, this is my—friend Serena Joy, Serena Joy, this these are my nieces Venessa, Scarlet, and Dory and Venessa and Scarlet's Mom, Elsbeth."

A look of recognition crossed Elsbeth features. "Oh, you're—you're Serena Joy." After a beat she added, "It's so nice to meet you."

"You, too." Serena Joy responded sincerely, "Your girls look beautiful." Then, addressing Rawls, commented, "Well, it looks like they're ready to go."

"Well, they should probably still go." Rawls reasoned.

"Aw, Uncle Benny, you have to come to." Venessa protested.

"Yeah, you gotta come to!" Scarlett added.

Serena Joy gave Rawls a look as if to say, _I see you are fairly trapped._

"Alright, let me get my sport jacket." Rawls gave him walking off to change.

"No, Rawls, not that—" Serena Joy began, taking off after him.

Hannah stood by a pew in the back of the church reading a block that had been set up against the wall, as part of decoration for the holiday, along several pots of lilies that had been placed in front of the pulpit, her head cocked as she read it, trying to figure out what it meant.

 _It's not about the bunny, it's about the lamb._

"I have no clue what that means." She said out loud.

"It's a reference to one of Jesus' name in the Bible." Sam told her, oversimplifying it, "You see, because lambs were…"

"Were sacrificed at Passover to commemorate God sparing the Israelite first borns." Hannah cut him off, "I know."

"Hey, you gonna be okay?" Sam asked, not for the first time. While they would sometimes come on Sunday to take Maudie, even though she was in the toddler room and sometimes to network for clients since Lyla would give Hannah recommendations from among other places, the church, Hannah was still often uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Hannah responded.

"Are you sure?" Sam questioned.

Just then the conversation was interrupted by a squeal of "DeanCas!" Then suddenly their boys were being attacked by Maudie. From the excited exchange of greetings, one would think that is had been years since the trio had seen each other, when it was only just yesterday. Seeing that they had similar toys elicited more excited squeals.

"Well, it looks like someone found her friends." Reason quipped, coming up and exchanging much more sedate hugs with the other parents. "Happy Easter, guys."

"Happy Easter to you, too." Hannah agreed.

"You get here, okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, yeah, Serena gave me a ride." Reason said, after a moment, she added, "She's looking for her parents now."

Meanwhile, Serena Joy and Rawls crept into the backroom where her parents were dropping off their contributions for the potluck lunch. "Hi." She called out to get their attention.

They both turned around. "Oh, hi sweetie." Her mother said.

"Mom, Dad, there's someone I want you to meet." Serena Joy said, stepping back, "This is my boyfriend, Benedict Rawls, Rawls, these are my parents, Stan and Corrine."

"Please to meet you." Rawls greeted them, extending his hand.

"You, too." Stan said, taking his hand, but his eyes seemed a bit uneasy. "You're, ah, a little older than I pictured."

"Dad!" Serena Joy exclaimed, mortified, even though, yeah, it was true, he was older.

"Now, Stan, I've seen worst." Corrine tried, "Serena Joy hasn't told us much, but what she has, has been good."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Rawls responded, trying to not sound as nervous as he was.

"Serena's sister Eliza Jane is just over here, little diaper emergency." Corrine offered, "Come, I'm sure she'd love to meet you, too."

Meanwhile, the Winchesters and Reason were dropping off the children in the toddler room, with all the other parents of younger children. As they got to the door another mother, a redhead dressed in a black wrap around dress with a cameo pinned to her breast, was carrying a tiny blonde, flanked by two slightly older girls. The woman and Hannah's gazes met and they realized they knew each other. "Oh, it's you." Hannah declared in surprise.

"It's you!" The woman responded.

"Wait, you too know each other?" Sam asked.

"Sam, this is the woman I told you about." Hannah explained, "Elsbeth, right?"

"Right." Elsbeth confirmed, as the toddler in her arms started to squirm, "You want down, sweetie?"

Dory nodded.

Elsbeth let the child door down and Dory immediately went to Cas, taking his hand.

"He really made an impression." Elsbeth informed them, "She's asked when she could see him again on the ride home."

"That is an impression." Hannah agreed in supply, "I mean, they only met once."

Crouching in front of the child, Elsbeth said, "Alright now, you stay with your new friend and me and the girls will be back in about an hour to get you, okay?"

The girl looked around rather reluctantly until Cas pulled on her hand, looking at her hopefully. Looking at him then back at Elsbeth, she nodded.

"Okay," Elsbeth said, giving her a love, "Be good. I love you."

Dory just stared, looking like she didn't know what to do with that as the adult shared similar sentiments and similar affeconiate gestures with their parents.

The class in the toddler room consisted of ten kids from the ages of two to four. For the first ten minutes, the teacher, let them run around and play, before trying to bring them to some semblance of order and teaching the lesson.

"Eat." Maudie told Dean, handing him a plastic burger patty.

"You eat, too." Dean told her, holding the bun.

And, so the toddlers exchanged pretend foods and pretended to eat them.

"Okay, little ones." Miss Nellie, a woman in her mid-twenties with long brown hair and an oval-shaped birthmark on her neck, "Time to gather round."

The older children obeyed, some them pulling younger siblings along, while the Miss guided the stragglers, mostly the younger children. After sitting in her chair in the middle of the mat, she beamed, "Happy Easter everybody!"

"Happy Easter!" Several of the children called back.

"Now, who wants to pick the song before the lesson" The teacher asked.

Maudie raised her hand eagerly.

Maudie's hand dropped. "Oh."

"How about one of our new friends pick?" Miss Nellie suggested, gesturing to Dory by chance.

Dory responded by whispering in Cas' ears. "Um, Dory says she don't know no songs."

"That's alright, Dory." Miss Nellie assured her, "Cas, why don't you pick the song then?"

Cas had to think a minute then started to sing, "He's got the whole world, in his hands…"

Meanwhile, in the sanctuary, the adults were into the singing portion of the service.

"…. here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that you're my God. You're altogether lovely, all together holy, altogether wonderful to me…"

As they sang, Hannah began to fidget. Sam put a hand over hers and gave her a reassuring look, telling her they could leave if she needed to. Hannah gave him a look back that said she was fine, she could do it, but Sam wasn't so sure.

Just then Reason slipped out of pew. "Where are you going?" Hannah whispered over to her,

"Ah, you know how I turned Pastor Jeff down about the solo?" Reason whispered back.

The couple nodded.

"Well, that's not the case anymore." Reason explained, before darting off.

"Ah, Serena, why is Reason going up to the stage?" Rawls whispered from his spot with Serena Joy's family.

"She's doing the solo." Serena Joy whispered back.

Rawls accepted that for about a moment then exclaimed softly. "Wait, she sings?"

Now, by that chance the Miss Nellie was taking the children for a bathroom break. "Can we see the singing." A little girl with short brown hair asked.

"Ooh, can we, can we?" Maudie asked, "Please?"

"Just for a minute." Miss Nellie relented, since it was a special occasion, "And we have to be very quiet."

Taking a deep breathe, Reason slowly began to walk up to the front. As she got closer to her front her legs started to wobble and she started to feel queasy as she walked. She couldn't do this. Turning around, she ran away.

Imeadtely Hannah and Sam got up. "No, you should stay." Hannah told him, "It'll only overwhelm her."

Serena Joy had stood up as well. "I'll be right back." She promised hurrying in the direction Reason had fled.

Meanwhile, Maudie looked around, clinging to handle of the rope. She wanted to help, but she wasn't sure how. "Hold my bunny." Maudie instructed, handing it to Dean before sneaking off, while the teacher was tending to another child.

The woman found Reason locked in the bathroom stall. Serena Joy knocked on the door as Hannah asked, "Reason, are you alright in there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Reason called back.

"Can you open up, honey?" Serena Joy tried.

Just then a rather abashed, but concerned Pastor Jeff stepped in. "How is doing?" He whispered.

"We don't know, she won't open the door." Hannah told him.

Meanwhile, Maudie toddled down the side next to the wall, managing to climb up the small step next to the church piano player, who just happened to be Miss Nellie's sister. "Whoa, where are you going, little girl?" She asked, standing up.

"I help Mommy." Maudie answered, walking past the piano player with such determination she actually let her past, then she stood up right next to the pulpit.

"Oh no," Sam actually said, out loud, getting up to fetch the wayward child.

However, before anyone could get up there, Maudie began to sing. "My hope is built on nothing less, then Jesus' blood and righteousness…."

The piano player started playing and motioned with her hand for Sam and her sister to just let the child be.

"I'm so sorry, sir." Reason was saying in the bathroom. She really felt like she had let everybody down.

"Hey, you have nothing to apologize for." Pastor Jeff assured her, "If anything I should be apologizing to you. You said you didn't want to do it and I kept coming back to you everything. I shouldn't have done that."

That was when they heard the song of the piano, a little voice and some laughter. Reason finally stuck her head out. "What is that?"

When the group got back to the sanctuary, they found Maudie, still up front, singing with her arms spread out in front of her, "Christ alone, cornerstone, weak made strong, in the Savior's love. Through the storm, he is Lord. Lord of all."

The adult's watched, some of them smiling, others chuckling a little.

"How much can the kid even speak?" Phil whispered over to Lyla.

"When dark…" Maudie's voice trailed off as she realized she didn't remember the rest of the words, "Um, um…."

"When darkness seems to hide His face, baby," Reason called out to her.

"Mommy, I help!" Maudie called out to her, raising her hands in the air and running in place a little.

"I see that." Reason smiled, not having the heart to scold her especially since no one really seemed to mind. She walked up and picked Maudie up so she could better get to the microphone that had been set up. "Here you go." She whispered to her.

"When darkness seems to hide His face…" Maudie began again.

The rest of the service was rather uneventful, and afterwards the adults hid the eggs inside the church, since there wasn't really a place outside to hide them.

Dean and Cas walked along the pews find the eggs that had been placed under them. It was the more obvious places, speficly meant for the younger children to find. "One for you." Dean said, putting a blue plastic egg in Cas' basket, "One for me." He placed a green cameo one in his own. Daddy had been right. This _was_ fun.

"Dean, I'se want to pick them up." Cas protested.

"Dean, let your brother find his own eggs!" Sam called out, watching from the side lines with the rest of the parents.

On the other side of the sanctuary, Maudie wasn't having as good of luck as her friends. She had only managed to find three eggs so far. Looking behind the baptismal pool, she found nothing. "Baa!"

Watching from the sidelines while holding Hope, Lyla kicked a pink egg at her feet, sending it in Maudie's direction. Maudie turned into picked it up.

"Maudie!" Dean called out, "Eggs over here!"

Maudie quickly ran over, finding a bone of eggs.

Meanwhile, Dory was trailing behind her sisters, trying to balance her fawn in one arm, while carrying her basket and trying to pick up eggs, leading to her only having a few eggs in her basket, and those Venessa and Scarlet had to help her with.

A few feet away, a little bespectacled Asian boy was running around, excitedly running around, grabbing eyes.

"Derek, slow down!" A teenager also watching the affair called out, "you're going to hit somebody!"

As if on cue Derek barreled right into Dory, sending her to ground and her eggs flying, and she immediately started to cry.

Elsbeth hurried to her side and pulled her up, looking her over. "It's okay." She assured her, "You're okay."

However, the girl kept crying, wailing, "I want my Mama!"

Elsbeth picked Dory up and began rocking her back and forth. "Nessa, Scarlet," She called out, "Can you pick up Dory's basket for me, Mama's gotta go outside a minute."

A few seconds later, Hannah saw Elsbeth out of the coroner of her eye coming up to her, carrying a sobbing Dory. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, she just fell." Elsbeth replied, "Listen, ah, I need to step outside, and, ah, I can't find the girls' uncle, would you mind watching them for few minutes?"

"Of course." Hanna assured her, "Sam?"

"Yeah, go, I got the boys." Sam responded.

"Thanks." Elsbeth breathed in relief, before taking off.

A few minutes, later, Rawls was talking with Stan and Nick going into the back room to see if they needed any help setting up for the potluck, and saw Hannah standing next to two of his nieces, who were sitting with not only their baskets, but, Dory's and the fawn that Scarlet had given her. Walking up he asked, "What's going on? Where's Els?"

"How—" Hannah began, then she remembered something from December, and everything clicked. "She's—she's your Elsbeth?"

Rawls nodded.

"Dory got knocked down during the hunt, Elsbeth took her outside, asked me to watch the girls." Hannah explained.

Rawls turned around, "I'm sorry, guys, I gotta go." Then he took off.

In the parking lot, she was pacing in front of the phone, getting nowhere with the person on the other end of the line. "Well, I don't care if I'm not family, I _have_ her family with me!"

"I'm sorry Miss, but unless you're on the list I cannot release information on Miss Cullen." The person said, in a somewhat condescending tone.

"I don't want any information; I want to talk to her." Elsbeth spit back, then taking a minute to calm down, "I'm sorry, I just don't see why I can't talk to her. Come on, have a heart. There's a three-year-old girl that just wants to talk to her Mom."

"I'm sorry Miss, but I can't help you." The person insisted, "Now, happy Easter." Then he hung up.

"Ugh!" Elsbeth screamed at the sky stamping the ground with her foot, resisting the urge to throw her phone.

"I take it that didn't go the way you wanted." Rawls spoke up.

Elsbeth turned to see him standing there. "No." She confirmed flatly.

"What happened?" Rawls asked, "Hannah told me Dory fell?"

Elsbeth nodded. "She started crying, said she wanted her Mom. I thought they could at least talk, but the good people at Saint Victoria's sanitarium are bunch of heartless pricks!"

"Come here." Rawls said, gesturing for her to come to him. She pothers in Rawls' arms and started sobbing.

"I just—I thought maybe a change of scenery would help her, but it only made it worse." Elsbeth sobbed, "Everything I do just—just makes it works. I mean, I knew it wouldn't be easy, but—but—"

"Sash, sash," Rawls soothed, "It's alright. It's going to be alright. We're going to figure this out."

Meanwhile, back inside the church, Sam slipped his hand inside his pocket. That was when by chance Lyla's husband, Phil, slipped over. "I know it's none of my business, but, let me guess, engagement ring box?"

Sam decided to give in. "How did you know."

"I kept touching it too." Phil told him.

Sam sighed. "Ah, any advice?'

"Ah, try not to puke?" Phil suggested.

Just then one of the other boys dropped his egg and it rolled to Sam's feet. Sam picked it up to hand it to him and suddenly the wheels began turning in his mind. No, he couldn't, not in public like this…then again.

Shortly after that people started lining up to eat and Rawls and Elsbeth came back in in, Elsbeth carrying a sleeping Dory. "Everything okay?" Hannah asked, walking up to him.

"More or less." Elsbeth said, before looking at Rawls, "Benny, I'm going sit in here, would mind seeing to the girls?"

"They're welcome to sit with us." Hannah volunteered, "Right, Sam."

"Thanks, but that really not necessary." Rawls told them, "I got this."

As it turned out, Venessa and Scarlet wound up sitting with a group of children in the corner. After dropping off plate from Elsbeth and Dory, Rawls sat down with Serena Joy family, constantly looking back at the girls.

"Relax." Stan told him, "They're fine over there. And from what I've seen, they're good kids." Then he handed Rawls a piece of money bread, "You might or might not be aware, but, my daughter makes the best chocolate hazelnut monkey bread you have ever tasted."

That was Priscilla Jean leaned in, whispering, "He likes you."

"You think so?" Rawls asked.

"Yeah, it's going great." Serena Joy whispered over to him, "You've really made a good impression, reminded me never to doubt you again."

His spirits raised, Rawls bit into the monkey bread.

At last the day started coming to end and the adults started figuring out who's eggs were whose. While Hannah was returning some eggs to another family, Sam quickly emptied as blue egg and put the claddagh inside. "Hey, guys," He began to the twins, "You want he/p Daddy with something?"

Latter on that night, after they had got home, the kids having eater the heads of their rabbits Sam came into the door way. "Hey, anyone want to go outside."

They boys both looked up.

"Sam, it's almost their bedtime. " Hannah reminded him.

"I know, it's just-the stars are really nice out tonight." Sam told her.

Temptation overcame practicality. "Well, I guess a few minutes wouldn't hurt." She conceded, getting up from where she had been on the ground, "Just let me get my shoes back on."

While she did that, Sam leaned in to boys, "Everyone remember the plan?"

They both nodded, then Dean asked, "What plan?"

A few minutes later, the little family stepped outside. "You were right," Hannah said, staring up, "They really are beautiful."

"They're not the only thing." Sam told her, staring at her.

Hannah looked away, blushing. "Sam, you don't have to—"

"I don't say things I don't mean, Hannah." Sam cut her off.

A few moment latter Dean and Cas pulled something out of the grass. "Mommy, it's another egg!" Dean called out as they ran up to her and held it out.

"Where did this come from?" Hannah wondered aloud, taking. It looked like one of theirs.

"Daddy thinks you should open it." Cas added.

Hannah looked over at Sam. "Does he now?"

"Cas, buddy, that wasn't in the script." Sam reminded him.

"What's a script?" Cas asked.

Meanwhile, Hannah opened the egg and found a little golden ring inside. "Oh, Sam, this is beautiful."

That was when he got on his knee.

"Sam," Hannah began confused, "What are you doing?"

"It's a called a proposal." Sam explained, grinning nervously, "A marriage proposal."

For a minute, Hannah was stunned, processing what was happening.

"Hannah," He began, "Would you do me the honor of making me the happiest, most grateful man in the world and marry me?

"Yes." Hannah breathed, before covering her mouth.

"Yes?" Sam repeated.

"Yes." Hannah confirmed.

Sam took the ring from Hannah and slipped it on her finger.

"Sam—I don't have a ring to give you." Hannah told him.

"Well, this is just the engagement ring." Sam informed her, getting up, "We'll both exchange bands at the actual wedding."

"Wedding." Hannah repeated, trying the word out in her mouth. Yes, there had to be some sort of ceremony, even a brief one, if they were to be ready.

"Mission accomplished, guys." Sam told the boys as he spun their mother round and planted a kiss on her lips.


	45. World's Fastest Wedding Planning

**AN: I'm sorry this is so late. I'm sorry it's even later than last week. It's been that kind of week.**

That Monday, Hannah discovered another ritual of the human mating process: Female associates of the intended bride fawning over the ring.

"Oh, my gosh, it's beautiful!" Reason declared, pulling on Hannah's hand and staring at it.

"I second that." Serena Joy agreed, "I mean, really, who even thinks about these? Points for originality, definitely."

Hannah felt some strange excited fluttering inside her. "Thank you."

That was when Karine came over looking down at the ring almost dismissively. "Mmph. You'd think he could at least spring for a gemstone. Seriously, what gum machine did he get that out of?"

"It was an antique store, actually." Hannah said softly, looking down, suddenly, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

"Hey, no one asked you." Serena Joy snapped, "Maybe if you didn't treat everyone in your area of gravity like scum, someone might but that much thought into a ring for you." Then she addressed Hannah, "Diamonds are basically worthless anyway. The only reason people think they're worth anything is because like only three people own all the mines and they restrict the supply so they can jack up the prices."

"That's—horrible." Hannah responded.

"Yeah, you're right." Serena Joy agreed, "The point is, don't listen to her. She's an idiot and it's perfect."

"Thank you." Hannah replied. She really didn't care what Karine thought. Sam bought it for her so it was perfect gemstone or not.

Trying to change the subject, Serena Joy quipped, "Just remember, if you need a venue, I got a parlor."

Hannah smiled, realizing what her friend was doing. "I'll keep that in mind."

In truth, the coupe was heavily leaning towards a civil ceremony. However, there was a small snag in their plan.

"I'm an unperson." Hannah declared a day or so later, slapping the paper work down on the table.

"What?" Sam responded, walking over to the table from the counter and sitting down.

"I mean I don't have a birth certificate, not social security number, no history until last year and even that is spotty—on paper I don't exist." Hannah explained, then softly facepalming said, "And they need to do a background check for the marriage license."

Sam recognized the problem immediately. "Okay, well, you got your job somehow, didn't they ask for any of that stuff?"

"Not really." Hannah confessed, "The company's actually pretty informal."

That worried Sam a little, but he decided to move on. He racked his brain for a solution and came to one he didn't really like, but it might be their best option. "Alright, I hate saying this but, what about using your vessel's information?"

Hannah tilted her head and said, "She wants me to tell you she thought we agreed after Illinois we weren't using that term anymore."

"Right," Sam responded, "Sorry Caroline."

"She wants me to tell you thank you." Hannah told him, "Anyway, we talked about that while you were at work, and there's apparently an issue of serval outstanding warrants, that could end up with me getting arrested."

Sam rubbed his face, trying to think of something. "Okay, then, just give me a minute…"

Hannah looked down at the paperwork that was currently taunting her. "I'm so sorry, Sam." She told him guilt ridden. This was all her fault…

Suddenly, there was a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Hannah, it's okay. We are going to figure this out, okay?"

 _Ah, if I could but in here,_ A voice in Hannah's head rang out, _I might have an idea…_

The next day, Rawls was sitting in the dinner a certain angel anxiously approached. (Even if he didn't actually know she was an angel.) "Thanks for seeing me like this," Hannah said, as she slid into the both.

"Well, you sounded pretty urgent on the phone." Rawls responded, gesturing for her to sit down and sat down next to her, " I assume the kids are with their father?"

"Yes, Sam wanted to come, but I told him it was better if he just stayed with the boys." Hannah explained, "We've been leaving them with friends a lot more than we'd like to lately."

With that out of the way, Rawls got down to business. "So, you want to tell me what this is about?"

"I, ah, I need your help," Hannah answered, looking down, then looking back up, "I need you to make me a fake identity, like you did Sam."

"What?" Rawls responded, "Why?"

"I'm not—I'm not who you think I am." Hannah explained, "I've –I've none things. Sam knows all about it, but-"

"It makes filing for a marriage certificate a little tricky." Rawls guessed, "Serena Joy told me."

Pulling money out of her blazer, she told him, "I wouldn't expect you to do this for free." She handed him the money. "Six hundred, up front."

"Ah, last time I only ask for five hundred." Rawls reminded her, not wanting to cheat her.

"Last time you also had a little more to work with." Hannah informed him. That was why she had thrown in the extra hundred.

Taking the money, Rawls said, "I hope you weren't planning on tying the knot right away. This could take a minute."

The next day while they were watching the kids play, Hannah asked, "Sam?"

"Yeah." Sam asked.

"Are you sure you want to just go down to the courthouse?" Hannah asked.

Sam looked up, "Do you want to do something different?"

"I'm not asking what I want, I'm asking what you want." Hannah responded, "It's your wedding too."

"Well, technically not my first—" Sam blurted out for some reason before stopping himself.

"Yes, Sam I am more than aware I will be your second wife." Hannah cut him off, trying to sound nonchalant, but something gave off the vive that the idea disturbed her.  
Sam moved closer. "Hey," He began, "It was only because she slipped me a love potion, so it doesn't count, and nothing happened, so it was completely annulled, like it didn't even happen. And it doesn't change anything between _us._ "

That made Hannah feel a bit more secure.

"As for the wedding, I don't know, I mean, eloping would be more practical, I mean, the only people we actually have are you, me, and these little guys." He gestured to the boys, "On the other hand, there's something so—I don't clinical, about having a judge just sign a paper."

"What about Maudie and Maudie's Mommy?" Cas spoke up, "Can't they come to the wedding?"

"Yeah." Dean agreed, then after a moment asked, "What's a wedding?"

"Come here." Sam told them.

Both comes toddled towards the couch, their parents pulling them up in their laps. "A wedding is when two people love each other very much, and they decide to be together forever." Sam explained, "So they do a kind of ceremony. That's a type special thing people do for different occasions In this one, they say some nice things to each others and then they exchange special rings."

"What does the rings do?" Cas questioned,

"The rings—" Sam began, "Well, it's sort of like there's this invisible tether, that no one can see that ring lets everyone know it's there."

"It shows everyone that they belong to each other." Hannah added, bursting a strand of hair out of Cas' face. It was getting short of shaggy. They should get the boy's haircuts soon.

"Ah, Hannah, have you ever seen _Breakfast at Tiffany's_?" Sam asked.

"No, why?" Hannah responded.

"No reason." Sam fibbed.

"Does that mean we should marry you, too?" Dean asked, "We love yous and yous love us?"

Sam smiled and Hannah suppressed a laugh. "That's not how it works, little one. Weddings aren't for people who love each other the way parents love their children. It's for people who—" She looked up at Sam, "Who want to become one." Then she looked back to the children, "But of course, Maudie and her Mother and invited. I can't believe we didn't think of it before. Thank you." Then she hugged Cas close to her, "You are both so sweet."

While rather they were going for a small ceremony or just eloping at the courthouse was up the air, if they _did_ go the first route, they knew they would need someone to actually preform said ceremony.

Being a small town, they had limited options, a few minsters from the town denominations, most Judeo-Christian in nature, and a pizza guy who had got ordained online. In the end, they picked the one guy they sorta kinda knew.

"Congratulations." Pastor Jeff told them as they all set down, "I wasn't even sure you two were actually dating."

"Well, actually, we've only been dating a few months." Sam admitted, "I mean, we've known each other a lot a longer because of the, uh, arrangement with the twins—"

"Right, the boys." Pastor Jeff said, nodding, "Have you, ah, set a date?"

"No." Hannah spoke up, "There are some, ah, things we need to get together first."

"Make sense, I know weddings can take a lot of planning." Pastor Jeff agreed, "I'm surprised more don't just say 'to heck with it' and elope."

"Believe me, we considered it." Hannah told her.

Pastor Jeff smiled. "I'll do it, of course, but, I, uh, have one stipulation, I ask all couples. That you with me for marriage consoling."

Hannah and Sam exchanged looks. "But we're not even married yet." Hannah responded, mystified.

"And we're not fighting." Sam added, "No more than any normal couples do."

"It's more like marriage consulting then consoling." Pastor Jeff rephrased, "It's just something to make sure everyone knows what they're getting into. Marriage is serious business after all. Now, I'm not talking about any six-week course, just two or three meetings, here in my office. Is that alright for everyone?"

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks. "It's okay with me if it's okay with her." Sam agreed.

"It's just a few meetings?" Hannah asked. He knew they had some time until Rawls got her documentations together, but she still didn't want this to be too long.

"Just two or three." Pastor Jeff confirmed.

"Alright then." Hannah agreed.

That was how they wound up dropping the boys off at Reason's on a Saturday.

"I think we need to name the goat." Maudie told Reason as she petted the goat with her friends.

"Any ideas?" Reason asked.

"What about Fred?" Dean spoked up also petting the little goat.

"That a boy name." Maudie protested, "This goat a girl."

"How do you know?" Dean challenged.

"I just do." Maudie insisted.

"Okay, guys, we're about to go." Sam told them, "Tell Mommy and Daddy bye."

The boys ran and hugged their parents. "When will you be back?" Cas asked.

"We won't be long." Hannah assured them, "We'll be back to get you before lunch."

"Okay." Cas agreed softly.

"Sorry about doing this to you on your day off." Sam apologized, as yes, she was supposing to be off that day.

"It's no problem." Reason assured them as she always did.

That was when Dean blurted out, "Mommy and Daddy are getting married!"

"I know." Reason smiled down at Dean before turning back to his parents. "And don't be nervous about this. This is just a formality most minister do to make sure no one ends up on a true crime show."

Hannah tilted her head and the statement, but Sam chuckled, so she assumed it was a good thing. "We'll try to keep that in mind." She told the younger woman.

The pair set on the couch in the pastor office as said pastor sat across from them. "This has been cleaned since Christmas, right?" Sam asked

"Oh, yes." Pastor Jeff assured them, "Okay, normally I like to start with why you've decided you want to marry each other. Either one of you can be first. And please take your time, I know I've put you on the spot here."

They exchanged looks, were still silent for a moment as they stared at the pastor for a moment, and then Hannah became. "Well, because, he's the most remarkable human I've ever met."

That threw Sam for a loop. "What?"

"Well, he's intelligent, brave and funny, kind." Hannah recapped, "So kind. And resilient. And he's—so great with the boys."

Sam felt his heart swell and he couldn't help but be a little flowered. "Babe." Was he could manage to say, putting a hand over hers, "How do I even respond to that?"

"It's alright, take a minute." Pastor Jeff assured him.

Sam did, taking time to gather his thoughts. "There's this—unquenchable curiosity you have. It's like you—want to know everything about everything and you're not afraid to ask. You follow your heart as best as you can and you deal with whatever the consequences are. And you're loyal to fault, and kind A bit intense sometimes but hey… And you're—you're an awesome mother. Really, the boys couldn't ask for better."

Hannah blushed, looking down.

"Well," Pastor Jeff cut in, "I think we're off to a good start here."

The next time Sam went back Selene's antique store, Hannah was with him.

"I actually don't have that much in the way of wedding bands." Selene warned them, sitting another case in front of them. "I don't even think half of these match."

Suddenly Sam felt something pulling on his sleeve. He looked down and saw Dean who had left the distraction of the phone and now looking up at his Dad. "Um, can we, um get the candy from that?" He pointed to an accident-looking gumball machine at the side of the door with large round gumballs inside of varying colors.

Sam hesitated. He didn't think they really needed to be chewing a lot of surgery gum at that point. That couldn't be good for your teeth. He just wasn't sure how to explain it to them.

Hannah looked at him and he could tell she was figuring one couldn't hurt, especially since they had been good this whole time.

Sam crouched down in front of Dean saying, "Okay. But you both only get one, and you don't eat it, you only chew it."

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because that's not the kind of candy you eat." Sam explained, "Because it takes seven years to turn into poop."

"Ah, he knows that's an old wives' tale, right?" Selene whispered only to Hannah, who just shrugged. She wasn't even sure what an old wives' tale was.

"And you don't put it in each other's hair, okay?" Sam continued.

"Okay." Dean agreed.

Sam walked the boys over to the gumball machine put the first quarter while Selene leaned into Hannah. "Great guy you have there."

The last time someone had said that to her, she denied the relationship as soon as she realized the statement's implication. (Which was probably a good thing, since the man in question was now one of her sons and was currently staring at the orange gumball the machine deposited for him like he wasn't sure what to do with it) Now, she smiled and said. "Thank you. I feel very, very lucky."

Just then the machine gave Dean a purple gumball. "Oooh, pretty!" He beamed before taking a gumball and putting it in his mouth.

After sitting the boys back down with the phone Sam went back to the counter. The couple eyed a pair of wedding bands, they were gold in color, somewhat plain, except for some decorative lines. "How 'bout this?" The asked almost simnotainously, reaching down for the rings. They looked up at each other, surprised but pleased that they were on the same page.

"Better try them on first." Selene advised.

Hannah reached down and took the ring, slipping it on just as Sam slipped on his.

"What do you know." Sam quipped, "A perfect fit."


	46. Spring Velvet Cake

**AN: Well, even though it's still late, at least it's somewhat earlier than last time. I'm so sorry this keeps happening. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to get my act back together.**

Sam's thirty-first birthday began with him rolling over and waking up because there was no one there to stop him.

His eyes slowly opened and after taking the minute and turned to the clock. He had two minutes before the clock went off, and he was considering using them when he heard a crash in the kitchen.

Sam made a quick walk past the boys' room and found then both sound asleep, Dean flat on his back, Cas curled up on his side, clutching coat with a thumb in his mouth. He wasn't a perpetual thumb sucker, he just did it when he slept, and it wasn't really sucking, the thumb mostly just sat in in mouth. Satisfied that they were alright, he went onto the kitchen.  
When he got to the kitchen, he how Hannah stirring something in a pot with another pot, presumably the one that had fallen and made the crashing noise, in the sink. Sensing another presence in the room, she looked up. "Oh, you're awake."

"Uh, yeah," Sam said, walking into the kitchen, "What's going on?"

"I thought since it was your birthday, I'd make breakfast so you could sleep a little later." Hannah explained.

That was right. It was his birthday. He had actually kind of forgot. "Oh. Thanks." It was all he could really think to say.

"Did that pot wake you up?" Hannah guessed, gesturing to the pot.  
"Yeah," Sam admitted, "But it's fine. It's the thought that counts."

"Oh, sorry, but you would you mind getting the boys' up?" Hannah asked, furiously stirring what Sam assumed was oatmeal, "I sort of have my hands full here."

"No problem." Sam replied, before turning back to do that.

After having a breakfast of oatmeal and toast and getting cleaned up and dress, Sam headed out for work. Hannah watched from the door until the Impala was gone and then turned back to go into the bunker, locking it in a running for the kitchen. Throwing the cabinet opened, she stood on her tiptoes, pulling and shoving until she came out with the box of spring velvet cake mix, she had bought a few days before.

Sam petted Hamlet before putting him on the leash. "I hear you get to go home soon, buddy." He told him. Good. He had been here _way_ too long.

Hamlet was a rather large wolf dog whose owner had bad slip and fall in his home a few months back. The man nephew was going to take of the dog, but his mother-in-law had thrown a fit. Though Hamlet was sweet dog, there have been documented cases of dogs several generations down from wolf-dog attacking children, nephew and his wife couldn't really argue with her points. Leaving him at the kennel was a compromise and since they didn't have the largest turnover and didn't need the empty kennel, it had worked. Now his owner was out of the hospital and while he couldn't take care of the dog fully on his own, the nephew could come by to pick up the slack.

"Alright, guys." Sam told the five he had on the leash as he walked them around the park, "Let's pick a spot." That was when his phone rang. Thinking it might be important, he took it out of his jacket and saw it was Jody. Answering it, he asked, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just realized what day it was, thought I'd check in and wish you a happy birthday." Jody answered.

"How did you even know it was my birthday?" Sam asked. He didn't think he had ever told her.

"Sam, we've known each other for—" Jody began, "Hold, on, let me do the math here. We met in march of 2010 but we didn't really have anything to do with each other for a while after that, then there the business with Leviathans framing your for murder in 2011, and the business with Chronos in 2012 then we went radio silent with each other for a while, then…look, the point, I've know you for several years, I've picked up a few things."

"Okay, that makes sense, I guess." Sam responded, "Thought it does paint a bleak picture of our relationship."

"Kind of." Jody admitted, "So, how it's going?"

"Good." Sam answered, "Just trying to get these guys to go. Oh, wait, a couple are going."

That was when it hit her. "Oh my God, you're at work, Sam, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright." Sam responded, "It's still taking a little getting used to. Besides, it's not like you're not at work too."

"Yeah, but I'm just doing paperwork anyway." Jody replied, "So, before I go is it okay how I ask about how wedding planning is going?"

"Well, we got someone to do it lined up." Sam answered, "But, we decided not to go the whole 'church' route, for some reason Lebanon throws angels' senses off, plus, them actually paying attention to a church isn't a given, but why tempt fate?"

"Dean wasn't kidding when he said angel's sucked, was he?" Jody responded.

"Not really." Sam confirmed. Man, that felt like so long ago now and it had only been over a year.

"Of course I'm excluding your angels when I say that." Jody added.

Sam smiled. "You better."

Meanwhile, as the boys drew a few feet away where she could see them, Hannah found herself staring at two bags of power, one yellow, one pink.

After War World Two ended, the companies that produced the processed nonperishable foods created to ship to American soldiers, wanted to sell those food the American public, but said public wasn't interested in eating this canned and boxed stuff. They wanted to eat fresh, wholesome foods just as they always had. Thus, began an aggressive public relations campaigns to changed consumers' minds. One of first of these to finally resonate was for boxed cake mixes that needed just one egg to be made. Letting the homemaker contribute to the baking by cracking that one egg made a box mix seem less fake.

Hannah needed more than an egg.

Grabbing the oil, she carefully measured it, before opening the pink powder and dumping it into the power, coughing a bit. She hadn't been prepared for the fumes.

"Mommy?" Dean asked, raising his head up, "What you doing?"

"Today is Daddy's birthday, so I'm trying to bake him a cake." Hannah explained.

"Can we help?" Dean asked, Cas nodding in agreement.

"That's—not a good idea right now, little ones." Hannah told them. She knew she was going to have enough trouble on her own. When she saw their faces fall a little, she suggested, "Hey, why don't you make him a card instead?"

"What's a card?" Cas asked.

Hannah came over to them kneeling down, taking a piece of construction paper. "You take the paper like this." She folded it, making a nice crease, "And then you draw a picture in it. You think you can do that for me?"

Meanwhile, Sam had returned the last of the dogs to their bungalows. "Thanks for not making it too hard, guys."

That was when Nell walked in. "Sam, I'm sorry to do this to you after you just put them up, but Mr. Williams and his uncle are here to collect Hamlet."

Sam looked at her in mild alarm. "Like, right now?" They usually tried to gives the dogs a bath before their owners came to get them, and Hamlet had just got back from a walk so he was going to smell.

"I'll stall as long as I can." Nell told him, before turning back around.

And so, Sam and Kyle, an eighteen-year-old who was almost as tall as Sam, forced a very unwilling Hamlet into the bath. "It's okay, buddy, it's okay." Sam tried to smooth, "Look, you just need to get through this and then you can see Melvin. Doesn't that sound nice?" Where was a dog translation spell when you needed it?

That must've been good for something, because Hamlet stopped fighting as hard, though he still fought them, managing to get everyone soaked before the bath was over. Really, it was worse than bathing the kids.

Finally, still sopping wet themselves, they brought Hamlet out to the front, clean and dried. "Okay." Sam annocued, "Here he is."

Hamlet could barely be held back running to his human. "I missed you, too, boy." Melvin said, rubbing the dog between the ears.

"Thanks guys." Mr. Williams told him," Sorry about coming in like this." Then he went up to Nell to work out the final payment.

After they left, Sam sat down to try to let himself dry. Taking out his phone, he looked down notice he had gotten a text from Charlie. Checking, he found it simply said, _Happy Birthday._ Mmm. Two birthday wishes now. Well, three, if he counted Hannah that morning, which, he probably should, since he planned on marrying her. But how did Charlie even know it was his birthday? Oh, right, she found the books.

He had dried off by the time his shift ended in he could head home, where as usual he greeted by two ecstatic toddlers. "Daddy!" The both screamed in unison, running for him and knelt to catch them. "We made you cards." Cas told him, giving him a blue piece of folded construction paper.

"We made you so, so many cards!" Dean added enthusiastically, clinging to his father.

"I see that." Sam said, opening the card and seeing a series of little pink loops, "Thanks, guys."

That was when the smoke alarms started going off.

They were still at the door, so Sam quickly whisked the twins outside. "Stay here." He ordered, "I'm going to go get your mother." Then he bounded back inside, running down the stairs, briefly looking up at the ceiling in subconscious instinct before following the smell of smoke to the kitchen.

When he got to the kitchen, he found Hannah fanning an open oven, coughing at the smoke, before finally pulling out one round pan, then the other with a bare hand.

"What happened?" Sam asked, raising his voice a little to be heard over the blaring alarm.

"I know you didn't want to much, but I wanted to surprise you and I was helping the boys cleaned up while it was baking and I must've lost track of the time and—" Hannah explained, looking like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

Sam quickly took her in his arms, trying not let her seem him smirk over her shoulder. There was just something, so—funny about this. "It's okay." He soothed, "At least you tried. And it was very sweet gesture." Then he got a look at the brunt baked goods. "Ah, Hannah, are one those cakes…. pink?"

"Those are apparently the spring colors." Hannah answered, her face buried in his chest, "You were born in spring. You should take it up with Mr. Hines."

"Whose Mr.—" Sam began, before seeing the box the mix had come from, "Hannah, Duncan Hines isn't an actual person."

After getting the boys back inside and assuring them everything was fine, everyone helped to actually frost the two brunt cakes when it finally cooled down.

"You really don't have to eat that, Sam." Hannah told him as he took a second slice. She knew he was only doing it to spare her feelings.

"No, it's actually not that bad." Sam said, trying to be honest, but be tactful about it. Sure, it wasn't the best cake he had even eaten, but the icing had taken a little bit of the scorched taste out, at least.

That was when Dean tried to reach across the table with his fork.

"Alright, but just one more." Sam said, cutting small pieces for Dean and Cas. The toddlers were sitting once again in between their parents with a small stack of paper between. Dean wasn't kidding when he said they had made so, so many cards.

As Dean out a portion of cake in his mouth without screaming, and Cas licked icing off his fork, Sam couldn't help but think cup runeth over just a little.


	47. Mother's Day

Sam lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. Even with Hannah's arms wrapped tightly around him, old memories threatened his mind. Bad ones.

"We don't have to get out of bed, you know." Hannah told him, "We could just—lay here until this day is over."

He hated Mother's Day ever since he was old enough to understand the day's meaning. Ever since he was small, he had to watch others celebrate with their mothers or make pastel-colored pencil holders he had no one to give too and it only served to twist the knife. Dean was better at hiding it, but Sam knew the elder Winchester was miserable on that day, having to spend another Mother's Day without his mother.

But Dean had a mother now.

"We have to get the boys up." Sam reminded her.

"We can bring them in here, put at the foot of the bed or between us, with a couple of toys…." Hannah suggested.

Sam had to admit; the idea was temping. "There's people I need to check in on. Charlie, Jody, Missouri and Patience…."

"How are those two doing?" Hannah asked, "As long as we're on the subject."

"Missouri's taking Patience up to her mother's grave." Sam informed her, "They don't know if her dad's gonna visit it because they're still not talking, so if he does that could get awkward to put it mildly, and Charlie—she tried so hard to keep her mom around but in the end she had to let her go. And Jody…did I ever tell you about Jody?" _That she's missing a Mother's Day card._

"No, but I read it in the Winchester Gospels." Hannah told him, "Last year. About what happened to her son."

Sam was silent for a minute. "We have to find a way to get rid of those books." He sighed finally. He didn't know how it escaped his attention before this that it wasn't just his and Dean's life that had been made public consumption by those damn books. Jody. Cas, a couple dozen names all racing through his mind suddenly, some still here, some not, bits of their lives, and sometimes their death, were presented on full display in those books.

That was when they heard Dean call out, "Mommy? Mommy!" Cas then copied him calling, "Mommy!"

They couple sat up in bed. "Looks like they're not giving us much of a choice." Sam said.

"I'll go get them; you make those calls." Hannah said, getting out of the bed, still dressed in Sam's shirt.

Had Sam knew Edith well enough, he would have called her. As he it was, he didn't, so the teenager got dressed and ready for work, when there was knock. "Edith!" Rawls called out, "It's me! "

Edith walked up and opened in the door. "I thought you were heading up to Oklahoma city."

"Yeah, slight change in plan." Rawls explained, septing inside, "I just wanted to check on you. You're—you're going into work today?'

"Yeah, I have the morning shift." Edith responded, grabbing her purse.

"I just figured you wouldn't want to go watch a bunch of others people celebrating Mother's Day with—well, their mothers."

"Alright, A, no one is going to take their mother to some greasy spoon for Mother's Day." Edith reasoned, sounding somewhat strained, "B, I don't care. She doesn't want to make any attempt to spend Mother's Day with me, then I don't want to spend Mother's Day with her. I didn't even bother to send her card this year, and, well, I'd say that progress. Now, if you excuse me," She pulled out her keys, "I need to lock up."

Reason was once again woken up by gentle nudging and the sound of someone calling out, "Mommy? Mommy?"

Reason eyes fluttered open to see Maudie hovering over her. "What is it, baby?" She asked, sitting up in the bed.

"I made you breakfast." Maudie informed her.

Reason's eyes widened as she jutted straight. "You what?" That was when she saw the plate with two pieces of bread with plum preserve spread on it.

"I didn't use a knife." Maudie informed her, "I used a spoon."

"How—how did you even get down from the bed?" When the little girl's face fell Reason quickly changed direction, "This look delicious, Maudie, thank you." The she took it and put it in her mouth.

As she ate Maudie pulled three pink and red cards from out of the dipper bag. "Happy Mother's Day!" She exclaimed pushing the cards to Maudie.

Reason took the cards, looking them over in shock. How did Maudie know what today was? And why was she getting three?

"I miss the first two." Maudie explained.

In South Dakota, Jody and Alex were stripping Jody's bed.

"I'm so sorry." Alex said for about the sixth time.

"Alex, it's okay." Jody insisted, "Accidents happen. And it was really, really sweet thought." That was when her cell phone rang. "One second." Then she went over the bedside where her phone was as, crime doesn't take holidays off, and checked the ID before answering, "Hey, Sam."

"Hey," Sam repeated, "Um, how are you doing?"

"Okay, about wash the butter out of my sheets." Jody answered.

"Huh?" Sam responded, confused.

"Alex decided to try to surprise me with breakfast bed, but things got little messy in the delivery." Jody explained. When the teenager blushed, looking down, embarrassed, Jody mouthed the words, _It's okay._

Meanwhile, Hannah had finished helping the boys with their clothes, and helping their pulled up their beds really quickly when she felt something pulling on her pants legs. She turned around and saw Dean holding three cards one in the shape of a heart. "Happy Mommy's Day!" He exclaimed, holding them up to her.

Hannah's heart simultaneously squeezed and dropped in a mixture of worry and delight. "When did you make these?" She asked, taking them.

"Yesterday." Castiel answered, holding out his own three cards, "Daddy helped us."

Hannah's heart started doing more strange flipping and squeezing. Sam didn't have to do that.

Meanwhile, Sam had just got off the phone with Jody. She claimed she was doing okay, all things considered. It seemed to him like the butter fiasco had been a welcome distraction. After taking a moment to gather himself, he hit Charlie's speeddail.

Charlie was actually still asleep. She had just finished a hunt involving a ghoul, was bone tired and wound up accidently sleeping in. She was still so out of it that she didn't bother to check the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Charlie, it's Sam." He said.

Charlie raised up, "Oh, hey. "

"I just wanted to check you, considering…well, you know." Sam explained, deciding to just come out with it.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little...well, you know." Charlie responded, "I just wrapped up this hunt, and I think that might've helped. Kept me from thinking about it, you know."

"I yeah, I get that." Sam replied, "I was—helping the boys make Mother's Day cards and while I was helping Dean cut out a paper heart I almost—I almost forgot for a couple of moments. Actually, felt kind of good."

They were quiet for a moment. "Sam?" Charlie asked finally, "Are _you_ going to be okay?"

"Yeah," Sam told her, "Yeah, I am." He _had_ to be okay. For Dean.

Charlie wasn't really buying. "Well, if ever you decide you're—not going to be okay, there are a lot of people here for you."

Meanwhile, having eating her breakfast of raw toast, Reason was staring at the burner phone, thinking about the same thing she thought about every year: calling her mother. She hadn't contacted her family since she ran away, and the thought of doing it utterly terrified her. But should she at least call to let them know she was okay.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Reason went to it and opened it up, once again revealing Serena Joy. "Hey."

"Oh, hi." Reason greeted her, stepping back, "You want to come in for a few minutes?"

"Sure." Serena Joy answered walking in. Seeing the cards on the slab and the plate in the sink, she asked, "What's all this?"

"Maudie, made me breakfast for Mother's Day, and some cards." Reason explained.

"Nice, kid." Serena Joy complimented. Then she saw the phone on table as well. Guessing what had happened, she said, "Say, how would you two feels about coming to brunch to with me." She had considered asking her before, but would afraid she'd be uncomfortable. Now, she was more than a little worried about her being alone.

"You mean the brunch you have with your mother?" Reason pointed out.

Serena Joy let out a hiss. "Yeah."

"I wouldn't want to impose—" Reason began.

"Reason, it's not an imposition." Serena Joy insisted, "There's always like, food for a million people, and if you don't come, I will stay here, and you two will have to eat all my pastries."

Reason thought she might be serious. "Just let me get Maudie dressed."

Meanwhile, Sam had one more call to make. Except the someone made the call first. "Missouri?" He asked, "How did you—"

"Physic, remember?" Missouri reminding him, "And Patience is doing okay, all things considered." She glanced over to where her granddaughter was looking out the window. And I suppose you're going to tell me you're fine, too."

"Yeah, something like that." Sam agreed, "So is she—"

"Now's not a good time." Missouri cut him.

"Alright." Sam agreed, guessing her reasons for stopping the conversation.

That was when Hannah walked in. "The boys are asking where you are."

"Ah, Missouri- "Sam began.

"Go." Missouri cut him off, "Be with your boys, your lady friend. Congratulations on that by the way."

"Thanks." Sam replied, "Talk to you, later."

"You as well." Missouri said before hanging up. Then she looked over at her granddaughter. "How you doing, sweetie?"

"Okay." Patience answered.

"You worried about running into him?" Missouri asked, knowing full and well that was in the back of her mind.

"You know I am." Patience replied.

They were silent for a minute. "You know, if he was there you _could_ try talking to him." Missouri reasoned.

"Grandma, please don't." Patience requested, "After what he did, I'm not sure I can ever talk to him again, or have anything to do with him. He left me in a mental _institution_ to rot rather than just tell me the truth."

Missouri was silent, as how did one argue with that?

Meanwhile, Edith was in the dinner going to grab another order. She had been wrong about one thing. Apparently a lot of families took their moms to greasy spoons for Mother's Day.

She walked over to a table with three people, a man, a woman and girl. The woman and the girl who was setting beside her both had red hair, and the woman was opening a wrapped package. "Oh, this is so beautiful, " She declared holding out the dark and light purple sweater. "Thank you." Then she hugged the girl, who couldn't be more than ten. The same age Edith was when her mother walked out.

Overcome with emotion, Edith trust the plates at them and ran for it.

Sam was stand over savory curls of bacon streaked with brown and gold when Hannah came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his tall waist. "The boys just gave me the most wonderful cards. Said you helped them make them."

"Glad you liked them." Sam responded, putting the finished product on a plate.

"You know, you didn't have to do that." She told him.

"I—I wanted to." Sam assured her. He wasn't about begrudge the boys' a day with their mother.

They sat down at the table, and Sam began dolling out the bacon in silence, Hannah eying him all the while, worried. He had that faraway look; he would get with drudging up something particularly painful. She wanted to try to offer some sort of comfort, but at the same time she didn't want to make it worse by pressing.

"So, um, I was thinking about visiting Mom's grave today." Sam finally said softly, where the little ears couldn't pick it up as well.

"You thinking you want to leave after breakfast?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "Yeah, I probably should." Lebanon was close to Lawrence, too close probably, but it was still a bit of a drive.

"I'll just need a few minutes to help the boys get some things together." Hannah told him. They had both learned that the more the boys could be kept occupied on long car rides the better. Unless they fell asleep during them, but it was little early for that to be likely.

"What?" Sam responded briefly before realizing what, she meant, "Hannah, we can't just—"

Hannah silenced him by putting her hand over his. "You are _not_ going to another grave alone." Lowering her voice even more she added, "Besides, maybe Dean should still go as well."

Sam looked over to where his brother-son was chewing on a piece of bacon. Maybe Hannah was onto something.

Serena Joy had been right about there being enough food to feed an army, had that army decided to invade a house on Mother's Day. Aside muffins and lemon blueberry pastries Serena Joy had brought, there were three loaves of bread eacg baked into a different shape, lined up in front of little bowls of butter, jam, honey, clotted cream and what looked like melted chocolate. There a quiche that looked like it contained broccoli and sausages, a large platter of smoked fish, and another platter of smoked ham and a tray piled high with a pyramid of fruit. There was a glass pitcher of some sort of orange drink and pots containing coffee and tea.

"What do you want?" Reason whispered into Maudie's ear and they got in line around the table with the others.

As Maudie was pointing out things she wanted, there was a knock on the living room door.

"I'll go get it." Corrine declared, putting down her plate.

"No, I'll get it." Stan insisted, "You just finish with your plate."

They group didn't think anything of it until Stan called out nervously, "Honey, your sister's here!"

Serena Joy's heart jumped into her throat, as she grabbed onto her friend's hand. "Reason," She began urgently, "I've told you about my Aunt Sarah, haven't I?"

"No." Reason replied, slightly bewildered.

"Well, that's probably because she lives out in Topeka and usually decides to be her in-laws' problem. But the thing is—she's horrible."

Meanwhile in Sioux Falls Jody had parked in front of the grave yard. "You know, you don't have to do this with me." Jody told Alex, looking over at her.

"You shouldn't have to do this alone." Alex told her. Jody had stood by her side through vampire detoxing and coming to terms with how screwed up she was as a result of what had happened to her. This was the least she could do in return.

The pair walked up to two matching tombstones, Jody holding two bouquet of flowers. "Hey, guys," Jody said, kneeling down in front of the stones. "You guys remember Alex?" She paused a minute, tears already forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just. I just…."

Alex bent down and took her adopted mother in her arms, trying to offer what comfort she could.

Meanwhile, Charlie was on the road, halfway to her destination when she saw a car on the side of the road. A dark-haired man was standing in front of a smoking engine. She also spotted three kids in the back seat.

Pulling over to car, Charlie rolled her window down. "Hey," She called out, getting the man's attention, "Looks like you could use some help there."

The man looked up, seeming wary of the stranger.

"Look, I promise I'm a not a freak, I just want to make sure you and the kids are okay out here." Charlie assured her.

The man was silent for a moment. "Well, would mind just—letting me use your phone? I'm an idiot, and I let my phone die and I didn't bring a charger."

Charlie pulled out her phone. "Sure."

Meanwhile, Missouri and Patience had made it to Buckhead. They were walking up to Tess Turner's tombstone, when they saw a man standing in front of it. A man who turned around when he heard them. "Patience…" James Turner began.

Patience wordlessly turned around, having none of it.

"Patience, please." James tried.

Patience whirled around. "No! You have nothing to say to me after what you did!" Then she turned to her grandmother, "I'll be in the car."

For a moment, mother and son stared at each other. "Let me talk to her."

Meanwhile, Sam and Hannah had loaded on the car and were on there way out of town. The route they took them past the dinner. That was when Sam noticed certain redhead in a waitress uniform sitting on the curve, crying.

Sam started to pull over. "What are you doing?" Hannah asked.

"Just—something I gotta do." Sam explained, before getting out of the call, "Hey. Edith, right?"

Edith looked up, whipping her eyes. "Yeah. Sam, right?"

"Yeah." Sam repeated, sitting down, "Mind if I ask what's going on here?"

"Bunch of jerks taking their mothers to a greasy spoon for Mother's Day." Edith answered, "I thought—I thought I was okay, and my mom—she hasn't really been my mom for some time, but—"

"It still hurts." Sam finished for her, even though he wasn't entirely sure what she was talking about. But still as the same time he did.

Edith nodded, tears welling up her eyes again. "And I know she's out there with her two replacement kids, not giving a crap about me."

That was when it clicked together for him. "I don't know if this is okay, but—" He pulled her into a side hug, letting her cry into her shoulder. He looked and saw Hannah, standing outside of the car, waiting to step in at a moment's notice. Sam mouthed for her to call Serena Joy.

Serena Joy was setting in a chair at the table while Aunt Sarah was complaining about how her neighbor had the audiency to let their small child go outside and play on every nice day, laughing and playing, while her husband sat on one side of her looking like the star of a hostage video, and her teenage daughters sat on the other, way too still and way too quiet. That was when there was a knock on the door.

"That's probably Lizzie Jane." Corrine said, getting up, "I'll go get it."

"I have no clue where she came up with these names she gave all of you." Aunt Sarah started in before her older sister was even after the room. "Eliza Jane, Serena Joy, Priscilla Jean. I mean, Priscilla is a hard enough name on its own I don't know what either of your parents were thinking. "

Serena Joy's phone went off. "I probably have to take this. It could be customer. I've had a lot of Mother's Day orders."

Serena Joy once again wasn't even out of the room before Sarah snorted. "Oh, please, does anyone believe that?"

Priscila Jean, who always had the least tolerance for Sarah's behavior, spoke up, "Actually, her side business is doing really well. She's actually thinking of starting a Facebook page. And she's got a nice apartment to back up what she's saying.

Ignoring that, Sarah continued pontificating about names. "And then there's you." She gestured towards Reason, who was nervous biting into an apple slice, "I mean, what sort of hippie parents did you have?"

Reason squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, looking down over to Maudie to make sure she was okay.

"Sarah, please, "Stan spoke up, "Serena's friend is a guest in our home." They had learned how tolerate or deal with Sarah's behavior in varying ways over the years, but he wasn't going to stand by while a completely innocent person was subjected to it.

"What?" Sarah responded, "I'm just making conversation."

That was when Eliza Jane and Nick walked in, Eliza Jane carrying Jennifer in a purple baby sling, Nick holding Amy before sitting down.

"Well, what took you two so long to get here?" Sarah questioned, her voice making it clear she meant this as a criticism. Before they could give a response, got onto a new criticism, "And Eliza, what did I tell you about codling your girls like that? Do you want to impede their independence?"

Half the room had to suppress a laugh. For all her daughters' lives Sarah had almost been a literal helicopter parent, telling them what they had to order off the menu, or pick from a spread not letting them play with the other kids, especially if it was outside or whatever she declared 'rough'. At seventeen and fifteen respectively, the girls would look utterly terrified when spoke to, looking to their parents for an answer and she had the gall to talk about Eliza Jane?!

Priscilla Joy, however, let her laugh out.

Meanwhile, Jody and Alex were still sitting at the graves. Jody had clamed down some. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." Alex assured her.

After a long moment, Jody said, "You know, I think you would've liked them. And they would've adored you. Owen would've been thrilled to have an older sister."

"From what you told me; he sounds like a great kid." Alex responded, not sure what to say. Nothing she could say would fix this.

"He was." Jody declared, her voice understandably weepy, "He really, really was."

Meanwhile, Bryan, the man on the side on the side of the road, on the road with AAA. "What do you mean it's going to be an hour? Look, I'm on the side of the road here with three pre-pubescent kids, I can't that long." From the look on his face, he was getting nowhere. "Alright, you know, what thinks for nothing." Then he hung up, rubbing his face wearily, then remembered, right someone was there. "Sorry you had to see all that. They, uh, the kids didn't hear any of that, did they?"

Charlie looked over to where the kids, a girl and a boy who appeared to be about them, sitting on either side of a little girl who appeared to be about five, were playing in the back. "No, they seem happily distracted. Is it okay if I ask where you're going?"

"Saint Francis hospital." Bryan answered, "My wife Justine's been in the hospital, but the kids—they still wanted to visit her for Mother's Day. Brought gifts and everything."

Charlie's heart couldn't help but go out to the family. "You what, it can't be so far out of my way. Why don't I give you a lift?"

"I couldn't possibly." Bryan responded, "I mean, I'm a complete stranger to you, you're a complete stranger to me—"

"Again, I promise I'm not a freak." Charlie assured him, "And I don't know anything about cars, I mean if it's anything to do with a computer, I'm your girl, there's no one better, but—uh, and I can't just leave you out here either."

Convince Charlie was geinute, Bryan opened the door, "Kids, we're gonna go with this nice lady, okay?"

In Georgia, Missouri came back up to her son. "She'll talk to you, but I don't think you'll going to like what you're going to hear."

James was silent a moment, rubbing his face wearily. "I bet you're loving this, aren't this?"

"I'm not really into Schadenfreude, son." Missouri told him. Then she asked him, "James, when a teenage girl not only asks to seek a shrink, but then is willingly instutionlized, don't you think that means something?"

James had no response, but walked off.

Patience was sitting in the passenger seat, still holding the flowers when James approached. "Your grandmother said you were willing to talk." When that got no response, he said, "Look, I know I handled this poorly—"

"That's an understatement." Patience cut him off, "When the visions started, I was terrified, then when they couldn't figure out what was causing the 'hallucinations' I was petrified, and you-you could have taken that away by just telling me the truth. I mean, the truth is—weird, and crazy, but it's better than actually being crazy! But you were so angry at Grandma—"

"It wasn't just about me being angry over your mother." James protested, "I thought—I thought that I could still save from that, give you a normal life."

"And how does gaslighting me to that?" Patience questioned.

James was once again silenced. "To be honest, I didn't really think of it that way."

"What else do you call letting someone think they're crazy?" Patience challenged, "I'm trying to forgive you but—it's hard. And even if I can do that—" She turned to look at him for the first time during this whole conversation, "I can never trust you again."

James felt as if he had been stabbed in the heart, but also, somewhere dept inside him, he knew he had that coming. "I'm sorry." He said, "I'm leave you two alone then." Then he got up and walked away.

Sam was sitting with Edith when Rawls pulled up. He hurried over to her and helped her up. "I'm sorry, Rawls," She sniffled, "I—"

"It's okay," Rawls assured her, "We all have a little nervous breakdown sometimes. "Then he looked at Sam, "Thanks for taking care of her."

"It's no problem." Sam assured him. He and Hannah watched as they drove away, then got back in the car.

"Daddy," Dean called out, "Is that lady gonna be okay?"

"I hope so, bud." Sam admitted, then drove off.

Meanwhile Reason, needing a break from Sarah's opinions on everyone and everything, stepped outside. After a moment, Corrine stepped out to join her. "You okay? I know my sister can be a bit—much."

"Yeah, I fine." Reason assured her, "It was still nice for you to be okay with Serena bringing me over last minute."

"Well, at least she thought to call first." Corrine reasoned, "And I don't know if you noticed, but, uh, I tend to make enough to feed a small army."

Reason chuckled a bit. "Hey, and I ask this with all respect, but has your sister always been like that?"

"No, it started around the time she was three." Corrine answered.

"What happened then?" Reason asked, feeling slight emboldened.

"She started speaking in complete sentences." Corrine explained.

Reason laughed.

Corrine smiled. "Yeah, we've been running damage control for that one for as long as I can remember, because nothing seems to stop her." After beat she added, "Speaking of which, I better get back inside. Feel free to stay out here a little longer, we'll keep an eye on Maudie."

"Thanks." Reason responded. When she was sure Corrine was gone, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number she knew by heart.

Within a few moments the English-accented recording came on. "Hi, you've reached Francis McCarthy, if you've got this number you must be somebody I love, so please give me a lovely message and I'll get back to you." Then there was the beep.

"Hey, Mom, it's Reason." She began apprehensively, "I just wanted to know, that's I'm okay, and I wanted to wish you a happy Mother's Day. I hope you're doing something great with Esther. I love you."

Back in Sioux Falls, Jody and Alex were back at home on the couch with a couple of cups of black tea. They couldn't actually say things were better, that there was peace, and they never would, but for the moment, this was enough.

The twins, Indiana and James, and Opal-Ruth, the five-year-old, were asleep in Charlie's back seat.

"They're out like a light back there." Charlie commented, looking at them through her rear-view mirror.

"Opal usually falls asleep on long car rides." Bryan informed her, "The twins are a bit of surprise, though." After a beat he asked, "Charlie, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." Charlie welcomed the questioned.

"Why—why are you doing this for us?" Bryan asked, "I mean, you don't know me from Adam? Or the kids from Cain, Abel and Seth, for that matter."

Charlie was silent for long moment, then explained, "When I was twelve, my—parents were in an accident. My dad died in my mom—my Mom was in a comma, but—she was braindead. I payed for her care for a long time, most of my adult like actually, but something happened and I realized—I had to let her go."

Bryn looked stunned. "I'm—I'm so sorry. "

"The point is, "Charlie began, "I know what it's like to want to see your mom."

An hour later, Justine was lying in her hospital room, a yellow bandana wrapped around her head, when she heard a knock on the door. "Hey," Her husband's voice called out and suddenly she found herself being attacked by three chestnut haired kids.

"Hey, hey, take it easy on your Mom." Bryan instructed, walking in.

The drive to Lawrence took several hours. By the time they got to the graveyard, the boys were both asleep.

"Wait here with Cas, okay?" Sam requested, getting in a sleeping Dean out of the car seat.

"I don't think you should go alone." Hannah insisted.

"I'll be fine." Sam tried to assure her, thought he didn't sound, so sure himself, "And you'll be able to see everything." He pointed out the grave to her, then took the sleeping toddler and the flowers, and left.

"Hey, Mom," He said, laying the flowers down, "This is Dean. You might have noticed, but he's a little smaller than the last time we were here."

From there Sam explained everything that happened, acting like she was actually listening. Maybe she was, even though, he wasn't actually sure that was how it worked anymore. He wondered what she would think of the situation. If she would disapprove of the deception. Or maybe she would understand. That they were just trying to give Dean the life he always derived. And hey, at the rate things were going the boys were all the grandchildren she was getting.

He'd like to think she understood.

Dean started to stir, slowly waking up. "We here?" He asked, sitting up.

"Yeah, buddy." Sam confirmed, "We're here."

Dean looked at grave marker. "Daddy, what that?"

"You know how Mommy you when people go to Heaven, we build something that reminds you of that person? Well, this is the one for my—my Mom."

"Oh." Dean sat up, "Is that why you so sad?"

Sam, decided against denying it. "Yeah. Yeah, that's why."

Dean reached out his little arms and wrapped it around him.

"You don't have to do that, bud." Sam told him, but returned the hug anyway.

After they hugged, Dean turned to the grave marker. "Hi, Daddy's Mommy."

And so, Dean began chatting rather happily and casually to his Grandmother/Mother. Something about the bittersweet display made Sam do the one thing he didn't think he'd do today. Break into genuine smile.

Sam was so engrossed he didn't noticed Hannah come over with Cas and set him down, letting him add a flower to the pile.

And while, that in itself didn't make for a happy Mother's Day, it was enough.

 **AN: I didn't mean for this to be so sad! I'm so sorry! Also, as usual, I'm sorry for the lateness of the hour.**

 **Happy Mother's Day!**


	48. World's Fastest Wedding Planning Part 2

_Looks like we might get more use of out of those Easter outfits after all._ Sam thought, as he helped then back in them, himself his fed suit, sans the jacket and tie.

"Is it Easter again?" Cas asked, looking down at the sweater vest.

"No, Daddy's just—trying to see if these can work for the wedding." Sam explained, pulling some ties out of his drawer to see if he had any that actually matched the vests.

"We gotta get dressed up for the wedding?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, it's a special occasion." Sam reasoned, still pulling out ties. It seemed everyone he owned was either red, black or green, but no blue or purple. This might be a rush job and on a budget, but they still wanted some sense coordination to it. Finally, he pulled out a blue tie, but the shading was still a bit off. Well, they were only inviting like, what, three people? Who would notice…

That was when they boys started playing with the jacket of Sam's suit, which was on the bed. Suddenly he got an idea.

It took couple of hours, finding the right material, and applying his self-surgery skills to sewing, but the boys had two little suit jackets that miraculously matched the dressed pants of the Easter outfits.

He hoped Hannah's clothes shopping was going as smoothly.

Hannah stepped out in a white dress with capped sleeves, the dress decorated with stragticly placed little cloth roses, a headband of them encircling the veil. "I'm not so sure about this one."

"Me neither." Reason agreed.

"No." Maudie agreed, her arms folded.

"Yeah, I really don't think you should say yes to this dress." Serena Joy added," I mean, it's pretty and all, but I don't really think it's you."

The found of them, Hannah, Reason, Maudie, and Serena Joy were at a local thrift store that had a whole area of the clothes section dedicated to wedding and prom dresses, trying to find just the right dress, Hannah coming out every few minutes while the were leaned up against the rack.

"I don't really know what that means." Hannah admitted, "But I don't think so, either. " Turning to look at the train she asked, "And why do all these dresses seem to be so—long?"

The girls looked at each other, then back to Hannah. "What do mean long?" Reason asked.

Serena Joy however, was one step ahead of her. "Hannah, sweetie, are you talking about the train?"

Hannah looked around. "What do trains—"

"It's a term for the cloth that flows from the end of a dress." Serena Joy explained, "A lot of wedding dresses have it. "

Reason got up from where she had been leaning. "Come on," She began, taking Hannah by the hand, "Back to the rack."

"I'm so sorry, I don't know why this is so difficult." Hannah apologized, going through the rack.

"Hannah, this is your _wedding dress_ of course, it's going to take some time." Reason assured her, going through the racks to look for ideas.

Just then Hanna spotted one at the far end of the rack. It was, like most of the dresses on the rack, creamy white, with a white gauzy lace overlay with a flowery design that got heavy at the edge of the train. The top had two straps made of the gauzy overlay, but not the solid creamy white cloth, in place of sleeves. Sixteen buttons ran down the back, but it also had a zipper

"What about this one?" Hannah asked, going over and getting it, holding it up.

"Oh, that one's pretty." Reason declared, "You want to try it on?"

Hannah unzipped the dressed in and carefully stepped in, pulling it up adjusting the straps, the bodice, making sure everything was right, until it fit just so. She reached in the back, put couldn't reach the zipper. Poking her head out of the room she said, "Ah, I think I need a little help."

Serena Joy stepped in and zipped up the dress, and did up the buttons. "Can I have a minute alone?"

"Sure." Serena Joy said, stepping back out.

Hannah turned to look in the mirror on the side of the wall and opened her mouth slightly in surprise. The dress was breath taking. Everything fit perfectly and the train wasn't too long. "I think this might be the one." She called out.

Both young women jutted up, causing Maudie to copy them. "Then come out, let us see." Serena Joy requested.

Hannah stepped out slowly, feeling a strange fluttering sensation in her chest. "What do you think?" She asked, spinning around.

Reason gasped. "Whoa, that is beautiful." Serena Joy commented.

"I think…" Hannah began, "I think this might be it. This might be the one." When they started out, she didn't understand how a dress could be 'the one' of anything. She thought she could be starting to get it.

That was when something occurred to Reason. "Wait, what about the veil?"

"Well, I don't actually need some." Hannah reasoned.

Reason responded by walking up to her and putting her hands on the older woman's shoulders. "Hannah," She began, lowering her voice. "You've earned that veil."

"What do you—" Serena Joy began, then her eyes widened as she got it, "Oooooh." After a beat she asked, "Really?"

Hannah nodded.

"But," Serena Joy began, waking over to them and lowering her voice, "You're literally a billion years old and…. never?"

"I've never had the occasion, okay?" Hannah whispered back, "The first time I ever came to Earth, to my knowledge at least, was when I was careening to the ground at about a thousand miles a minute, and besides, even if I had been here before that sort of thing is—frown upon."

"Yeah, but—not even with Sam?" Serena Joy questioned.

"No." Hannah confirmed, "He knows I'm entirely comfortable with that, so he doesn't push."

"Push what?" Maudie pipped up.

The women exchanged panicked looks. "Um, I'll tell you when you're older." Reason said fineally.

"Trust me kid, you _really_ don't want to know." Serena Joy told her, then got back to the matter at hand. "Okay, we are getting you that veil have an idea, but, uh, it involves going to a place that you don't like."

Hannah vaguely remembered stumbling across the wedding section at _Wal-Mart_ before, but hadn't given much thought to it. Now, she was glad it existed.

"According to my research, this isn't bad for veils." Hannah noted, looking at the price on the pink box with a picture of a woman with white gauze pinned to her hair.

"And I think this could go with the dress." Reason added, "Plus, this could probably count as your something new."

"Well, the dress was technically new to her, so…" Serena Joy noted softly.

"My what?" Hannah asked.

"Traditionally the bride's outfit has to have something old, something new, something borrowed and something new." Reason explained, "It's supposed to bring good luck."

"This is very detailed." Hannah commented, "Does Sam have to do all this?"

"Well…" Reason began.

"His big thing is not seeing you in the dress before the wedding." Serena Joy spoke up, "It's bad luck if he does. You know, see you in it before the wedding."

Hannah made a note to hide the dress well. They couldn't afford the bad luck.

If Sam heard one more Chris Tomlin instrumental, he was going to start taking hostages.

The entire family was in the _Hobby Lobby a_ few towns over, armed with a couple of coupons, trying pick out a bouquet and matching boutonniere.

"What about this one?" Dean said, holding out a white flower. The boys' way of trying to help had been pulling out flowers seemingly at random.

Hannah took this one from him. "Hmm." She mused, holding it up to Sam's chance. "This could work. What do you think, Sam?"

"I don't know." Sam admitted, "Um, maybe you should just pick these out yourself?"

"Sam, it's _your_ wedding, too." Hannah reminded him, "You should be a part of this decisions."

Sam _did_ want to be part of planning the wedding, this part was just getting a little—overwhelming. "I'm sorry." He said sincerely, "It's just this is getting to be a little—much. I mean, I've never seen this many fake flowers in one place before."

"You're right." Hannah agreed, "Let's just—set down a few minutes and regroup."

The little family sat down on a bench in the entrance to the store, the boys chewing on fruit leather they had thought to bring with them. It was getting close to nap time and they were starting to get cranky. As they rested, a woman watched past them with springs of fake lavender springs sticking out of her bag. Sprigs that caught Hannah's eyes.

"Excuse." She called out, "Where did you find that lavender?"

The woman turned to look at her. "These?" She pulled a bouquet out of her bag.

"Yes." Hannah confirmed, nodding.

"Oh, in the section." The woman answered, pointing in that direction before heading on her way.

"Thank you." Hannah called out to her before giving Sam a bright-eyed look.

"Come on boys." Sam said, "I think we're about to start back."

After taking moment to let the boys finish their snack, the went back down the bouquet isle. After a bit of looking Hannah found the lavender bouquet. "This is beautiful." She declared, picking it up.

"Yeah." Sam agreed, as he actually kind of like the bouquet.

"You think it would go with the dress?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know, you won't let me see it." Sam reminded her.

"It's bad luck for you to see it." Hannah insisted.

"I'm pretty sure that's only while you're in it." Sam replied, "Anyway, do _you_ think it goes with it?"

Hannah examined the light purple bundle in her hand. "I think it does." She then moved close to Sam and bending some of the fake stems pinned a few of the springs to his chest. "If we find some smaller ones, it wouldn't look bad on your suit jacket, either."

Sam looked down. She had point there. "Well, let's go seem if we can find some."

It turns out, there were in fact matching bouqtiineres with three springs of lavender. They got three, one for Sam one for each of the boys.

Hannah sat nervously, looking around the both, then looking at the green clock at the far end of the room. Why wasn't Rawls here yet?"

That was when Jiya, one of the waitresses came over to her. "Decide what you want yet?"

"Ah, I'm just waiting here for someone." Hannah explained.

Jiya shifted awkwardly. The woman had been there awhile, and all she had ordered a dollar cup of coffee.

Hannah knew that she was starting to test the waitress' patience and didn't blame her. She was taking up a table that could be used by someone else and the woman's time. Looking over at the counter. "Actually, as long as I'm waiting, I'll take one of those deserts? The pastries with the chocolate glaze on top?"

"One Custard Eclair, coming right up." Jiya said, before walking off.

AS if on cue, Rawls staggered in, looking weary, his hair a mess, holding a manila folder like his life depended on it, and missing a shoe.

"Oh my God," Hannah gapped, standing up, "Are you hurt?"

"No, no I'm fine." Rawls assured her, "I, ah, just had little disagreement with a guy over squish toys." Then, he pulled out a white pig with blue spots, a pink noise and hooves, and a little pink bow under its chin. "Here."

Hannah took the oddly soft bobble in her hand. "Thank you."

Rawls slide the envelope over as he slid over the rest of the money. "Welcome to exitance, Hannah Smith." He told her, "I hope the name's okay. Not like you're be using it very long, right?"

Hannah smiled. "Right. Think you so much for this."

"You're welcome." Rawls gave her a smile small. His people had found some…interesting things while putting this together, but he decided to keep his mouth shut.

That was when Jiya came over with the éclair. As the young waitress left, Hannah slid the pastry over to Rawls. "You look like you need this more than me." Then she pulled out enough to pay for said éclair and the two cups of coffee she had drunk while waiting, plus a generous tip for Jiya's trouble, grabbed the folder and fled.

"Okay, here's the paperwork, this could take a minute, there are spots to sit over there." The clerk said, handing them the paperwork and pointing in that direction.

"Thank you." Sam said, as their group walked over in sat down, him and Hannah started looking over the documents. "Let's see." Sam began, "Last name Winchester, first name, Samuel…"

"This place looks nice." Sam said, sitting at the computer with Hannah. "B And B, out of the way, close enough we could get back if there was an emergency."

Hannah read over the information. "It's perfect."

"Okay, I guess all I need to do now is make the reservations." Sam declared, beginning to type on the computer.

That brought up a compelling question. "When should we book a reservation?" Hannah asked.

"Okay." Sam said, looking at the board they had put together, "These are the list of dates that are good for everyone. Now, we just need to find one where something's open."

As one might expect, venues in town were somewhat limited. They tried the surrounding areas as far out as they there, but couldn't find anything."

Two days into their fruitless search Serena Joy was baking when suddenly she got a call. Putting aside her bowel, she went to the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Serena," Sam began awkwardly, "How real was that offer to let us use your living room?"

Serena Joy smirked. "You guys really don't want to use a church, do you?"

Two days later, Jody Mills got unexpected call. "Hey, Sam."

"Hey," Sam repeated, "So, we finally got a save the date."

"About time." Jody commented, though things were moving rather quickly, "When?"

"June 1st." Sam answered, "Think you can make it?"

"You just tried to stop me." Jody replied, "I just need to schedule some time off."

The next person Sam called was of course, Charlie. "Please tell you're calling because you finally set a date."

"How did you know?" Sam asked.

"Lucky guess." Charlie answered.

"You hacked something, didn't you?" Sam insisted good-naturedly.

"No," Charlie insisted right back at him, "It's just this has been some time coming. June?"

"How did you know that?!" Sam responded.

"Again, lucky guess." Charlie told him, "So I'm guessing this means I'm invited?"

"So, I'm guessing that means you'll come?" San requested playfully.

"You would guess right." Charlie confirmed.

After he finished the calls Sam found Hannah in the stacks, playing with Dean and Cas. "Boys, Mommy needs to talk you Daddy for a second, okay?"

Cas nodded, but Dean moaned.

"I'll be right back, little one." Hannah promised, and that seemed to sooth him somewhat. She walked over to Sam. "So, are they coming?"

"Yeah." Sam confirmed, "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Okay with what?" Hannah asked.

"My people being there, when…" Sam began, his voice trailing off before recompositing himself, "Hannah, we can't even tell any of your family about us."

"Sam," Hannah began, " _You're_ my family now. Those boys are my family. Nothing else matters."

Later that evening, after putting the kids to bed, the couple curled up with some reheated coffee and a couple of _Big Bang Theory_ reruns.

"They do know there's a table in the kitchen?" Hannah questioned.

"Ah, I think there's group a little big to fit at it, honey." Sam pointed out.

"Good point." Hannah admitted, smiling a little.

Something had changed a little ever since they had set the date. It meant that this was really happening. There was anticipation and maybe more than bit of trepidation mixed in.

And they were loving every minute of it.


	49. The Rehearsal

Sam and Serena Joy lifted the coffee table while Hannah briskly shoved the loveseat against the wall. "Are you sure you don't need any help with that?"

"No, we're fine." Sam told her as they sat the table back down again.

"You know, you really don't have to help me with all of this." Serena Joy informed them.

"Serena Joy, you're letting us use your apartment to get married, the least we can do is help you move your furniture." Sam reasoned.

"Eh-emmm." Serena Joy shrugged, "So, are your friends going to be here for the rehearsal?"

"Yeah, they should be here by this afternoon." Sam answered.

Jody Mills and Charlie Barberry pulled up at the bunker a few moments after each other, stepping out at the same time. "You must be Jody and Alex." Charlie greeted them.

"And you must be Charlie." Jody responded, extending her hand, "It's nice to meet you."

"It's really nice to meet you too." Charlie told them, shaking both their hands. "Really, I've heard good things."

Just then the bunker door opened, revealing Sam. "Hey, guys." He greeted him, "Anyone need help with their bags?"

The women passed on help with the bags until they got inside and were almost immediately attacked by two very excited toddlers, causing them to drop their luggage, which Sam caught. "Jody!" Dean squealed, "Alex!" Then, realizing they weren't alone, he whirled around, "Charlie!"

"Boys, let them get down the stairs." Hannah called up to them.

The boys, not getting the idea, kept hugging the visitors.

"Guys," Sam spoke up, "They can't get down the stairs with you attached to them."

The boys reluctly let go and let the woman walk down the stairs, quickly following behind. "Our Mommy and Daddy are getting married." Dean informed them.

"I know, that's why we're here." Alex told him, taking him by the hand.

"Are you getting married too?" Cas asked, taking Charlie's hand.

The adult chuckled a little. "No, we just for your parents' wedding." Charlie explained.

"Oh." Cas responded.

A few hours later, Garth Fitzgerald parallel parked next to a familiar Impala. "This must be the place." He told Bess who had came with him, then pulled out his cell phone, "Hey, we're here. Um, what floor is it on?"

"Ah, second." Sam said, as he and a group of six people stood in front of the door and he knocked. "We're at the door right now."

Serena Joy opened the door. "This everyone?"

"Well, we got one more on his way up." Sam said.

"Okay," Serena Joy responded, "Come on, in."

They walked in and were greeted by glittery gold-colored votives practically covering every surface.

"Wow, that's a lot of candles." Charlie declared in surprise, looking around the room.

"Yeah, and we could use a little help turning them all on." Serena Joy requested.

"I thought we were going wait to day of to actually light these." Sam pointed out as everyone went over to help. It was _a lot_ of candles.

"Yeah, well, give or take half of these are the plastic battery-operated ones and we need to make sure they work." Serena Joy reasoned, "Plus, at least one of the real ones so I know the lighter works."

By the time they got the votives turned on the Pastor Jeff had arrived. "Um, is this all there is?"

"Yes." Sam answered, "It's going to be a very small wedding."

"Alright, then we can get started." Pastor Jeff declared. After looking around he asked, "Can I get my witnesses over the right there?"

That was when Cas called out, "Wait! Coat!"

"Coat?" Pastor Jeff repeated.

"Yeah, um, we told him we could fold Coat up very neatly so he could be in the Ceremony." Sam explained, "Coat, I mean. Apparently, he, um, wanted to be in it."

"Ah." Pastor Jeff responded, giving an understanding nod.

An so, Sam helped Cas fold Coat into a crisp flat bundle, almost like one would a flag. Then the little angel put the bundle under his arm.

"Okay then," Pastor Jeff began again when they were finished, "I need all my witnesses to right."

Jody, Alex, Charlie, Garth and Rawls stepped off to the right.

"And Sam, you'll be here by the door." Pastor Jeff said, pointing in that direction.

Sam quickly started in that direction.

"Ah Sam, actually I need you and the boys to all go up at the same time." Pastor Jeff told him.

"Oh, right." Sam agreed, rounding up the boys.

"Alright, you three walk in." Pastor Jeff instructed, "Ladies, why don't you go back into the bedroom until I tell you to come out."

Serena Joy, Reason Hannah and Maudie went into the bedroom, and Winchers men practiced their part of the procession. The children ahead of Sam they all walked in relatively corradiated row.

"Okay, Reason and Serena Joy come out next." Pastor Jeff instructed.

Reason and Serena Joy came out, Reason holding Maudie, walking at slow, but steady pace, taking their places across from Sam and the boys.

"Hannah, this is where you come in." Pastor Jeff called out.

However, no one came out.

"Hannah," Sam called out, worried, "Everything okay in there?"

"Yeah," Hannah called out, "I just—I just need a bit longer than I thought. I'm sorry." She suddenly felt like she was going to puke.

"You got nothing to be sorry for." Sam assured her, "Between you and me, I'm surprised I haven't wet myself already. Or worst."

Hannah actually chuckled a little at that. At least she wasn't the only one.

"Man, if they're this nervous at the rehearsal, imagine how they'll be tomorrow." Charlie whispered to the other who nodded in agreement.

That was when Dean pulled on Sam's sleeve. "Daddy did you bring pull-ups?"

"You have an accident bud?" Sam asked.

"No, for you!" Dean responded, causing the room to erupt into laughter. Dean's face fell.

"It's okay, buddy." Sam assured him, "We're a laughing with you."

"But I didn't laugh." Dean protested, mystified.

"Are we sure that child's not genetically related to his mother?" Alex whispered to Jody.

"I'm a little big to fit your pull-ups." Sam told Dean, "But thanks for the offer."

That was when the door to the bedroom slowly opened.

Hannah, holding the bouquet but still dressed in her regular clothes, slowly waked up the walkway that had been made, until she saw standing in front of Sam. "Okay," Pastor Jeff said ,"Now, I'll say a few things, you'll say your vows, and then Sam gets the ring. Do we have the substitutes?"

"Here." Cas called out, pulling out two plastic white bands. They had divided ring duties between the two boys, Cas taking the rings for the reseal, Dean taking the rings the day of.

They each took a ring and put it on the other's fingers. They were too large and rough, but it wasn't that big an issue.

"For there I'll produce you husband and wife and you deal it with a kiss." Pastor Jeff finished, "Now, do you mind if we run through it again?"

They wound up running through the ceremony two more times then Serena Joy insisted on putting a pot of coffee on.

"I'm just saying, Rowling has a tendency for protagonist-centered morality." Serena Joy was saying, taking a bite of the buttermilk chocolate bread she brought to the spot on the floor where everyone was sitting.

"Protagonist-centered-?" Charlie balked.

"Yeah, it's when characters in a work are judged to be good or evil based solely on their actions towards the protagonist or if they are the protagonist, rather than their actions as a whole. Or any recognizable moral code sometimes." Serena Joy explained.

"I know what is, I just can't believe you just said that about what you said it about." Charlie responded.

"It's true, those are basically fighting words to her." Sam commented, wondering if he should really say anything that might encourage this.

"Look, let's just unpack those last three books, I mean really look at them." Serena Joy suggested, "The hex. I understand the hoeros wanting to indemnify traitors but disfiguring someone like that is horrible, especially if that someone is just a kid. Also, what's the point of a deterrent if you keep it a secret. Why didn't Herminie tell the DA about it in the first place? Also, she could have just made a hex that erased their memories so they wouldn't tell anyone? It just makes her seem vindictive but she's still treated as being in the right, despite basically doing the exact thing Umbridge did with that 'I must not tell lies' pin. And in the next book Harry smirks when he sees Margarita still has it! And don't even get me started on Harry's treatment of Draco's nervous breakdown. Actually, no, since I've already started, just let me rant for a few moments here. Let me tell you, without going into too much detail I have personal experience with nervous breakdowns and they are not fun and they don't just spring out of nowhere, and people who witness them usually later wish they knew what to do to help. But Harry? He stands and watches, which is a perfectly normal reaction, won't fault him for that, but when Draco attacks, which is also a normal thing to happen in these sort of situations, does he try to talk Draco down and work this out, or ask him to stop fire cruses while he tries to think of a way to help him? No. Instead, he nearly kills the kid! The point is, Harry is not the person I'd want around if I was having a mental crisis."

"Alright, I concede to all your points." Charlie surrendered, "But that doesn't mean _A Series of Unfortunate Events_ is the better series. The kids literally burned down a building."

"That was under duress!" Serena Joy protested, "And it wouldn't have happened if all the adults weren't so incompetent."

"That's actually true." Hannah spoke up, "I've read the first couple and I really don't see how any of those people survived to adulthood."

"You know what, maybe we shouldn't be questioning other people's choices." Jody said, picking up her cup "After all whole parts of our lives practically run on protagonist-centered morality."

The Impala was the second car to arrive back at the bunker, Charlie's bug—yes, she still had the bug—being the first. The kids were half-asleep, so the adult each took one, carrying them in. "Sorry guys." Sam told them. They had wind up staying later than they meant and were now almost at bedtime.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"For keeping you out so late." Sam answered.

"It's okay, Daddy." Dean assured, "We don't mind. Do we, Cas?"

Cas just shook his head.

They let the kids play a little than it was baths then bed. "Can we read one of the library books?" Dean asked.

"Can we?" Cas added.

"Yes." Hannah said, pulled out one with a gray cat in yellow dress and red sweater holding a green lunch box on the front. "Yoko." She began, opening it to the first page, "'What would you like for lunch today, my little cherry blossom?' asked Yoko's mother…."

They boys were out before the story was even finished, and their Sam pulled up Cas' blankets while Hannah adjusted Dean's then they gave each child a kiss on the forehead.

"You going to be alright on your own tonight?" Hannah whispered as they walked out.

"Will you?" Sam responded.

They were both silent. "It's only for tonight, right?" Sam reasoned, taking her hand "One more night and we never have to spin another night apart again."

"Never again." Hannah repeated, though they both knew it wouldn't be that simple.

And with that they let their hands slip and parted ways, for one more night.


	50. Forever

**AN: I'm sorry. I swear, I tried to get this out before an ungodly hour, but I just couldn't. Please don't hate me.**

At six thirty AM the morning of the wedding, Hannah pulled out her suitcase.

She put in a pair of painted white wooden shoes with low, flat heals, the inside lined with silky cloth for the wearer's comfort, then put it in. She then put in a pair of white hose, then the robe that Sam had gave her after she found returned Ami to Heaven, then took the dress out of the closet carefully folding it inside, then the veil before shutting it. Picking it up she headed towards the garage.

At seven AM Serena Joy, dressed in a floor-length, short-sleeved pale light purple shift, was covering the spread for later, when the doorbell rang. She opened the door and ushered Hannah inside, "You got everything we need there?"

"I think so." Hannah responded, somewhat anxiously.

"Hey," Serena Joy, noticing her tone and that she was clutching the handle of suitcase so tight her knuckles were turning white, "You okay, angel girl? You're not thinking of pulling a 'runaway bride' on us, are you?"

"No." Hannah assured her, "I'm just a little nervous."

Serena Joy gave Hannah a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "Have I ever told you about my big sister's wedding day?"

"No." Hannah answered as they sat down.

"It was a disaster." Serena Joy told her, "They decided to have it all at this fancy hotel pull out all the stops, and when they day arrived, we bridesmaid tried our best to keep them both in the dark about it, but _nothing was ready._ And I mean, _nothing._ We couldn't find the table plans _or_ the decorations, the master of ceremonies was no where to be found, and my mom and two groomsmen were setting the tables. The maid of honor wet to complain to the wedding planner and was met with rudeness. Ditto when I tried. They lost all the flowers, the bountineres, the corsages. And when they actually _did_ get down the isle they played the wrong music when they went back down the isle, And the photographer got cut short because the food was ready, which meant no pictures from our side of the family. They gave the lactose intolerant guess the wrong food and gave the kids real gin and lemon sorbets for palette cleaners instead of the strawberry ones they had also ordered for the kids. The parents didn't realize they were alcoholic and thought they were just lemon, so there were a lot of slightly drunk minors that day. And I got a little buzzed too because Norma doesn't like lemon and I wound up eating hers as well as mine."

"Is this story suppose to be making me feel better?" Hannah asked, not sure how this tell could make anyone feel better.

"There's a point here." Serena Joy assured her, "Despite all this, it was still ones of the best days of Lizzie Jane's life. She can ever laugh about it now. And she and Nick are still going strong. So, no matter what happens today, it's going to be the best day of your life. Except for maybe when you got the kids. Thought, due to the circumstances I'm not sure on that one."

"The whole initial terror and panic did put a damper on that day." Hannah responded.

Serena Joy smirked. "I need to get Reason. Now, there are a couple of things we need to do before we actually get you in the dress, but I am going to need you out of those by the time we get back, alright?"

"Alright," Hannah agreed, then as Serena Joy was heading for the door she called out, "And Serena? Thank you."

Meanwhile, back the bunker at the same time, Jody was trying to get some toast into Sam.

"Come on, your toddlers are being more cooperative than you and you're still half-asleep." Jody informed actually holding out a piece of cooked bread in front of him.

"I'm so nervous, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep it down." Sam insisted.

"So, it's better that you fainting at the altar?" Jody challenged.

Sam gave him taking the toast and biting off the corner.

That was when Garth walked in, for once in his life actually wearing a suit. "Hey, me and Bess were just about to head out. Everything okay in here?"

"Daddy won't eat!" Dean announced.

"Thanks for helping, Dean." Sam sighed.

"You'se welcome!" Dean responded, not getting the sarcasm.

Garth came over and sat down across from Sam. "Sam, look, I get that your nervous. When me and Bess got married, I had pre-wedding jitters so bad my hands were shaking half-way through the ceremony."

"And I almost pulled a runaway bride through the bathroom window." Jody informed him, "My partner at the time had to hold me down on the floor of the station bathroom."

That earned her a series of questioning looks. Even the kids were confused by the statement.

"Yeah, my mother-in-law didn't like me, like, at all, and was trying to make us both miserable until we called the wedding off, so we wound up just eloping at the station with my boss officiating." Jody explained, "I was still a deputy at the time, we had a different sheriff then. But she still found out somehow and tried to make a scene, they actually had to threaten to arrest her—fortunately we both only found out about that after the fact. And during his attempt to keep from making a huge mistake my partner ripped my dress! But you know what? I'd do it all over again. Except maybe trying to climb out the window." After she looked at Alex and said, "If you need it, I still have that dress by way, just sayin'."

That elicited several amused smiles, lightening the air somewhat.

Serena Joy had arrived at Reason's trailer and was knocking on the door. "Reason?" She called out, "You guys ready in there?"

A few second later Reason came to the door, revealing Reason in a shift that matched the one Serena Joy was wearing only Reason's top half was falling off her shoulders. "We might have a slight issue."

Serena Joy walked inside. "What happened to the pins?"

"I don't know, when I went to add them, I couldn't find them." Reason exclaimed, before rubbing her face wearily, "Oooohhh- "

"Now, clam down." Serena Joy urged, "We're just—run to the nearest store, buy some more safety pins and have it done up and Hannah won't have to know a thing."

"She getting the jitters?" Reason asked, feeling guilty for making trouble on this day of all days, even if it was an accident.

Serena Joy picked up the dipher bag and backpack so Reason would have one less thing to deal with. "Let's just say I considered putting up angel warding before I left."

Meanwhile, Hannah in a too big gray robe, pacing the floor, when she heard the door open. "Serena?" a voice called out, then stepped in, shutting the door. Staying silent for a moment, Hannah peaked out the door, which she had shut when she was changing. She couldn't make out who, but she could see someone moving around out there. Grabbing her angel blade from the bed and raising it ready to attack she slipped out, finding a startled Rawls. "Ah!" He screamed, nearly dropping the small plastic candle he was holding.

"Ah!" Hannah screamed back at him, not lowering her blade.

"What the Hell are you doing?" Rawls yelped.

"What the Hell are you doing?" Hannah repeated.

"Serena asked me to come over and start turning on the electric candles!" Rawls answered, "And drop off these club sandwiches!" Sure enough, on the stove where the votives had been pulled away, was a plate of what looked like tiny BLTs with toothpicks ran through them. "Why are you holding a sword?!"

"It's actually more of a blade!" Hannah informed, "I thought you were a burglar!"

"A burglar who calls out for residence's occupant?!" Rawls pointed out, "Can we please stop yelling at each other now and can you please stop pointing your blade or sword or knife or whatever at me?!"

Hannah lowered the angel blade and asked in a normal voice, "You do know we already got food, right?" Hannah had put two deli platters in the fridge shortly after she arrived and Sam was supposed to pick up the appetizers, they had placed an order for on the way there.

"Well, I thought, just in case something happens to your order." Rawls reasoned, " Consider it my wedding present."

"But we said— "Hannah trailed off.

"I know, I know, you said no presents." Rawls cut her off, "It was a joke. More or less." He went back to the candles, trying to change the subject, "So where is Serena anyway?"

"She went to pick up Reason and Maudie." Hannah explained, "I'm sure they'll be here shortly."

Meanwhile, Reason as sitting in the nova with Maudie whose own little purple dress with rufflely capped sleeves, little white flowers around the waist, and white hate with a little purple bow fit perfectly when Serena Joy came out, holding a box of safety pins. "Okay," Serena Joy, said, opening the driver's side door and getting in, "Let's get this done, shall we?"

As Serena Joy worked to secure the bodice, the radio was on the alternative pop station Serena Joy had it on when she was the only one in the car. " _Every morning there's a halo hangin' from the corner of my girlfriend's four-post bed. I know it's not mine, but I'll see if I can use it, for the weekend or a one-night stand…."_

Reason and Serena Joy jolted their heads up to reflect looks of panic. _How do we say 'casual sex' to a child?_ "Well?" Reasoned whispered finally.

"What are you asking me for?" Serena Joy whispered back, "She's your kid."

"It's your radio." Reason hushed, "And these things only see to come up when I'm with you."

"Um…" Serena Joy responded as it wasn't exactly true, but she did somewhat have a point, "You'll learn…when you're older?"

"Yes!" Reason agreed, though she hoped her daughter never learned what that was, "Yes, when you're older.

"Trust me kiddo, you don't want to know." Serena Joy added.

Meanwhile, back at the bunker Sam took a deep breath and tried to steady his shank hands before picking up the light purple tie and wrapping it around his neck. That was when his cell rang, causing him to jump, he was so wound up. Checking the caller ID and seeing it was Hannah, he picked it up, every worst-case scenario running through his mind. "What happened? Is anyone hurt?"

"Nothing's wrong." Hannah assured him, "I just wanted to check on the boys. On you."

"Oh, well, I'm fine, or as fine as I can be." Sam told her, "I'll be a lot better when we both have those rings on. The boys are okay, too. They were a bit tired this morning and wanted to know where you were, but they're—they're being very cooperative. The girls are helping them get dressed so I could focus on getting ready."

"That's really nice of them." Hannah responded, "Let them know I said thank you."

Sam sat down on his bed. "Yeah, I already thanked them about fifty times. What's fifty-one?"

In the boy's room, Charlie was smoothing out Cas' jacket. The women were already dressed, Charlie in a dark pantsuit, Jody in a light blue dress with short lace sleeves and a sleeveless jacket, Alex in dress with material covered in thin vertical stripes of red, green white and yellow, with tie-around belt.

"These are so cute!" Charlie squealed, then grabbing Cas' tie, realized there was a problem, "Ah, does anyone know how to do one of these?"

"I got yam." Jody told her going from her work with Dean and putting the tie around Cas' neck, and carefully folding and knotting.

"Too tight!" Cas complained.

Jody quickly loosened it, leaving the tiny angel with a slightly a dishelved look, yet at the same time, just a little short of being put together. If Jody had known Cas from before, it would have probably reminded her of a minicurized adult Cas, only with a different colored tie and for some reason holding his coat I his hand.

"Miss Jody," Dean spoke up, "Are you married?"

Jody froze at that, because she knew when she answered that it led to other questions and while she knew they had some sort death discussion with the twins, she wasn't entirely sure what they had told them.

"I'll got get Sam." Charlie told her, realizing the what the older woman was thinking, sprinting from the room.

"I can't believe this is finally happening." Sam was saying.

"I can hardly believe it's happening at all sometimes." Hannah confided, "Sometimes it seems like yesterday I was calling you a bad influence and you weren't able to remember my name."

Sam grinned. "When did you say that?"

That was when Charlie knocked on the door. "Sam," She told him, "We have situation."

"Babe, I think I have to go." Sam said, "See you soon, love you."

Charlie explained what happened as they walked and Jody and Sam together explained to boys why they had never met Jody's husband.

"Why do so many people get hurt?" Dean asked sadly when they finished.

Everyone's heart couldn't help but break at that. "I don't know, sweetheart." Jody told him, creasing his face, "I just don't know." That was when to her surprised, she found herself being embraced on both sides. She looked to find Cas hugging her from the back and Dean hugging her from the front.

"You can marry me if you wanna." Cas suggested, thinking he was helping.

"You can marry me, too!" Dean added.

Jody couldn't help but laugh. "That sweet of you to offer, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline. Now, let's let your dad have a look at you." She really wanted to be off this line of conversation for multiple reasons.

"You guys look great." Sam told him, "But what's with the—" He gestured to his own collar to indicate what he was talking about.

"Cas said it was too tight." Charlie explained.

Sam chuckled. Apparently, some things never changed.

Meanwhile, Serena Joy, Reason and Maudie, had returned from their secret pin run and were helping Hannah get ready. This meant starting with making sure her make-up was alright because she hadn't reapplied in, like, ever, and making sure her hair was alright, because, ditto.,

"Not be catty or anything but I always figured this wasn't natural." Serena Joy told her, and she wound a curl around her finger, "No offense, it's just, the way it's strait at the top kinda gives it away. Not offense."

Hannah, for her part was staring off, crushing the peroxide-covered tissue in her hand with such force it turned into a fine powder as she let out shaky breath.

"Hey," Serena Joy spoke up, catching on, "We okay here, angel girl?"

"Yeah," Hannah lied, "I'm just— a little nervous."

"You just atomized a tissue." Reason pointed out.

"A little nervous with super human strength." Hannah snapped. Realizing she had been a bit harsh, she softened. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Reason assured, "You got a lot going on right now."

"Still, that's no excuse for being cruel to you." Hannah insisted, "Especially after all you've done."

"That's what friends, do." Reason told her, leaning in and hugging her, and her hugging back.

"Ah, hate to break up this love fest, but they're going to be here any minute, so need to actually get you in this dress." Serena Joy told them.

Hannah stepped the dress (something new, or new to her) and while her Reason helped her button it, she put her locket back on (something old). Serena Joy handed her a bracelet of turquoise-colored beads which she slipped on her wrist. (Something borrowed and blue).

She tapped the penny in the toe of her shoes then set them down and stepped in them. The shoes were a good, if somewhat odd feeling fit, and the lining and hose protected her from the wood.

"You look a princess!" Maudie declared, jumping up and down, causing her hat to fall over her eyes.

Hannah leaned down to adjust the hat. "Thank you." She said, "You don't look so bad yourself."

Just then there was knock at the door as Sam and the wedding party that didn't good ahead of him stood in front of it. "Hey. Can, uh, someone let us in here?"

"I'll get them." Rawls called out before opening the door and ushering them in. Garth and Bess had showed up earlier and helped light the candles, and were now standing off in the corner. The room smelled faintly of vanilla.

"Is there, ah, a place we can put this? "Sam asked, gesturing to the food.

"Yeah, over here." Rawls told him, leading the way.

The boys, however, had other corners. "Where's Mommy?" Cas asked.

"Yeah, you said she'd be here." Dean reminded them.

Reason cracked the door open. "In here guys." She called out and the boys came running allowing themselves to be led inside.

Dean actually gasped when he saw his mother. "Mommy, you look like a princess!" He declared, to which Cas nodded.

"Thank you, little ones." Hannah responded, "And you two looks so handsome. But Cas, your tie's a little." She reached out to fix it, but Cas pulled back.

"I don't like it so tight." Cas complained.

"Alright, then, little one, it can stay that way." Hannah told him, "Now, come to your mother a moment."

The boys got closer and Hannah pulled them both into a hug. "I love you both so much."

"We love you, too Mommy." Dean replied.

"We love you, too." Cas repeated.

After they finally broke apart, Hannah said, "You better get out there. We'll be starting soon."

As they went out, Sam came to the door. "How are we doing in there?"

Hannah came right up to the door, almost putting her face to it. "We're doing well." She told him, "Just—waiting. I-I can't believe this day is actually here."

Sam grinned from ear to ear. "I know, right?"

"Come on, guys." Jody was saying, "We should be getting in place before the preacher shows up."

"She's right." Sam agreed, "See you in a little bit."

"You too." Hannah said, smiling.

"Alright, everyone." Rawls began, grabbing his sport coat from where he had left it on nearby chair, "Let's get into place so we're at least halfway ready."

Taking his session, the witnesses huddled to the right, while Sam and the boys went to the coroner.

However, as time for the wedding to begin struck, and the candles began to burn down, they were faced with a pressing problem.

Their officiant was nowhere to be found.

"Oooh, where is he?" Hannah moaned, pacing the floor, "Maybe this is a sign. Maybe we shouldn't go through with this. Maybe—"

"Maybe this is a sign." Sam was saying as well in the living room, also pacing, "I mean, have you seen my relationship history. And not just romantic ones. I mean, anyone who so much as hands me a cup of coffee eventually ends up with their life irevably shattered if they survive at all. Maybe this is God's way of saying 'not with my daughter, you don't'."

"Sam, do you really think God cares about her that much?" Charlie, who had at least skimmed most of the Supernatural books and picked up on a few things, pointed out.

Just then, Serena Joy came out of bathroom where she had gone to call Pastor Jeff to see what the hold-up was. "Okay, apparently he got a flat on the way here, and he didn't have a tire and he' waiting for AAA."

Sam faced palm and rubbed his face wearily.

In the bedroom, Hannah was trying to undo the window.

"Hannah don't." Reason entreated, getting in between her friend and the window, "This is not a sign, he probably won't even be that late." Then she called out, "Sam! I need you to calm down your wife!"

Suddenly Rawls had idea. "I have a tow chain in my van! "He declared before running for the door.

"I have a siren!" Jody declared fallowing after him, turning around just long enough to say, "It's only for emergencies." Then the sheriff bounded after the small-time crook.

"I can trace his cell-phone so you can get his location!" Charlie annoched, chasing after them both.

"Alternately I could just tell you where he said he was!" Serena Joy called out, following all three of them.

Pastor Jeff was on the side of the road, on his phone with AAA. Well, more accurately, on hold with them.

"Come on, come on." He muttered the phone but that wasn't getting him anywhere.

Suddenly he heard sirens blaring down the road and suddenly he could make out…. a gray van with flashing red siren on top?

The van stopped in front of him and Jody and Rawls stumbled out. "Come on, Pastor." Jody said, putting a hand on his back, "Let's get you inside."

Rawls got the pastor's car chained to his van and then jumped back in and they were off.

"We got him!" Rawls announced as he and Jody burst back into the apartment ten minutes later, flanking Pastor Jeff on either side.

"I am so sorry." Pastor Jeff said, scienrely contrite.

"Just get us married and it'll all be good." Sam told him, almost out of breath.

"Deal," Pastor Jeff agreed, "Who's got the wedding march?"

Charlie held up a small radio and turned it on as Alex dimed the lights slightly, making the candles much more noticeable and given everything a pleasant glow. Sam and the boys got into place.

The boys walked ahead of him, Cas told Coat under his arm, and stood by his side as the came to the right.

Reason peeked out. "That's ort cue." She whispered, before turning to Hannah. "You gonna be okay."

"Yes." Hannah assured her, "I don't know what I was thinking. Thank you for stopping me."

"That's what bridesmaid are for." Reason assured her.

"Actually, they're for protecting the bride from evil spirits and kidnappers." Hannah responded confused.

"Well, traditionally, but…" Serena Joy began, "Never mind." Then she headed out, followed by Reason.

As they left Hannah took a deep breath and stood up. "You ready Maudie?"

Maudie responded by grabbing the end of Hannah's train, keeping it from dragging the ground. Well, mostly.

"Alright," Hannah breathed, "Let's do this."

Hannah opened the door and the tune to 'here comes the bride started'. Her eyes landed on Sam and suddenly she wasn't nervously anymore. She wasn't scared. In fact, she felt like she could fly again.

Likewise, couldn't take his eyes off Hannah. She was more beautiful than he had ever seen her. Of course, he could actually see her face because it had the veil over it. His heart was about to pound out of his chest, but at the same time, there was sense of elation.

"Look at his face." Bess whispered over to Garth.

Sam's eyes were saucers for a moment, then they got smaller and he broke into a small smile, still just staring at his bride. Hannah finally stopped in front of him to his left and gave him a small smile from beneath the veil as she reached out and lifted. She looked like she might start crying at any moment, but they also looked like they wouldn't be the sad kind either.

"Dearly beloved." Pastor Jeff began, "We are gathered here today to witness the union of Samuel Isaac Winchester and Hannah Raquel Smith. Now, if anyone has any reason why these two should not be married, speak now, or forever hold your peace."

Sam and Hannah both visibly flinched, but to their relief, nothing happened.

Ignoring what he saw, Pastor Jeff continued, "There is a long that begins, loves is not a place to come and go as we please, it's a house we enter in and then commit to never leave. This is exactly what a marriage should be, a place where we vow never to go. Where we protect, and we can go to be protected. When we build one another up, and act as one? These two will enter into this covenant now with vows that they both have written."'

Sam took his bride by the hand. "Hannah," He began, "If someone told me a year ago that you and I would be here right now doing what we're about to do—I would've asked what they were smoking and if I could have a bit."

That lead to small burst of smiles and laughter from the group.

"And not just because when we first met—well, it didn't go so well." Sam continued, "It's because I know I'm not worthy of this—joy you've brought into my life." Looking down to their sons he adlibbed, "The joy they've brought into both our lives. Which is why I vow to spend every moment of my life from this day forward trying to be worthy of that joy. I vow to protect you and them and respect you and love all three of you long after my dying breath. I will be strong I will be faithful because I'm counting on a new beginning, a reason for living, a deeper meaning."

Hannah let that sink in for a moment, tears welling up in her eyes. "Did you just quote Savage Garden in your wedding vows?" She asked finally. Then she clapped her hands over her mouth, dropping her flowers. After Sam's beautiful words _that_ was the first thing that came out of her mouth?

Sam caught her flowers. "Um, possibly." He admitted, "I actually don't know where that last part came from, it just popped into my head, I guess I could've remembered from a song subconiously.

"Still, it was beautiful." Hannah assured him. She paused for a long moment then began her own vows. "Sam, for a long time, I didn't know how to feel. I didn't know what love was, I had no clue it even existed. And then the world as I knew was shattered into pieces. Then…these beautiful children happened and came into our lives and then we were all living together to take care of them and…you're right, we were barely even friends." That last part wasn't what she had wrote out, but since he brought it up. "But then I discovered what a remarkable being you truly are." She got back on script somewhat, "When the world was chaos you were my constant, even when you had your own problems to deal with. You are a rare soul, one to be cherished, and I'm so—sorry you can't see this. So, I vow to do that for as long I live, as long as I exist. I vow to try every day to show you that you are worthy of this joy. I vow to support you and to work together to raise those two-little next to you so that they are the best of the men."

By the end of it, both of them had tears welling up in their eyes and half the wedding party was openly weeping.

"Do you have the rings?" Pastor Jeff asked.

Dean handed Sam the wedding band and he put it on Hannah's finger, his hands no longer shaking, and she did the same for him.

"By the power invested in me by the state of Kansas." Pastor Jeff began again, "I now produce you husband and wife you may now kiss the bride."

Sam kissed Hannah deeply, dipping her a little, having to hold her.

When they came up from air, Pastor Jeff finished, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Winchester." And the room broke into applause.

Ten minutes later, everyone was in chairs or on rearranged couches, eating and chatting.

"That was a really lovely speech." Jody was telling Pastor Jeff as they stood over the spread, each holding a glass of sparkling grape juice.

"Thank you. Pastor Jeff said, looking around. He was still a little embarrassed about being late.

"Oh, it all worked out in the end." Jody assured him, "The bands are on their hands, let no men tear them asunder, no one's mad."

"And I am grateful for that and that those two have _very_ dedicated friends." Pastor Jeff said, "How do you know, Sam exactly?"

"We knew each through an old friend, Charlie's basically his adopted sister, and him and Garth are old work buddies." Jody summarized.

Meanwhile, Alex was sneaking another cheese wafer. She knew she had already had four but they were _really_ good. She looked and found Reason staring at her. Alex could feel her cheeks start to burn until Reason took one and stuffed in into her mouth. Bess came over as well as grabbed two more, and they all grinned at each other mischievously.

"And you're sure you're okay that we didn't—you know, but anything aside for you?" Serena Joy was asking Garth, who was rolling a cocktail meatball in his fingers.

"Yeah, it's fine." Garth assured him, "We told them not to do anything for us food wise because we knew they're be a couple of civilians not in know present. "Lowering his voice, he added, "Besides, between you and me, I kinda missed cooked meat." He popped the meatball in his mouth. He looked over to where Rawls and Jody were talking than asked. "Listen, I know it's none of my business, but, uh, think they're might be another wedding in Lebanon sometime soon?"

"Well, between, you and me, my men got a bit of stuff going on right now." Serena Joy told him, "But, uh, once that's clear up, I'm hopeful."

All thing while Sam and Hannah were on the couch sitting next to their children, who, happy and stated but tired, had curled up for a nap.

"Mrs. Samuel Winchester." Hannah repeated, "That kind of has a nice ring to it."

"I think so, too." Sam agreed, before giving her another kiss.

That was when Charlie came over to her. "So how does it feel, guys?" She asked, "Feel any different?"

The coupe exchanged looks. "I don't know." Sam admitted, "I mean, we were practically a married couple before, but now that it's official…"

"It feels wonderful." Hannah finished for him.

"Yuk." Charlie responded in mock-disgust, "Please, don't get to couplely on me now."

Sam laughed and Hannah smiled, "Okay, Charlie, we'll try not to." Sam promised.

"Hey, guys," Serena Joy called out, "You want to get over here?" She gestured over to the cake. The couple had decided to forgo all the speeches that usually went before that part.

The Winchesters looked down at the twins, knowing they would want to be awake for this.

"I'll get them up when it gets to the part they'll want to be there for." Charlie assured them.

And so, they got up, approaching the three tiers of white-covered cake topped with two shimmery white acrylic silloutes wrapped into a kiss. They began cutting it, reveal and top and a bottom of tear of coconut chiffon, with a bright sunny tear of yellow velvet in the middle, causing Hannah to eye Sam.

"He came to me a few days ago asking me to do that." Serena Joy spoke up, "Said it was surprise."

Hannah smirked at Sam, who smirked back.

By the time they were finished, Dean's face was covered with white icing.

"Did you actually get any in your mouth?" Hannah asked, leaning down to wipe off the icing only for Dean to wipe it off with his tongue.

That was when Serena Joy and Charlie set the radio. "Mr. and Mrs. Winchester," Charlie called out, "Are you ready for your first dance as husband and wife?"

Hannah got up and walked over to Sam. "Well?" Sam asked, "Are you ready?"

"What do you think?" Hannah asked.

Sam took her hand as the music started to play. _"I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish, I'll be your fantasy…"_

"Oh crap!" Charlie exclaimed. That was not the song they had asked her to put in. She must have grabbed the wrong CD!

However, they didn't seem to mind, quickly adjusting to us. "I think I jinxed us." Sam whispered, realizing this was in fact that song he took that line in his vows from.

"Hmm." Hannah responded, "What am I going to do with you?"

 _I will be strong, I will be faithful 'cause I'm counting on a new beginning,_

 _A reason for living. A deeper meaning. Yeah…_

Getting excited, the boys ran up to them. Each parent grabbed one, incorporating them into their first dance.

Eventually, the song ended, and another song began. _"Well, I, I still can remember times. When the night seemed to surround me…"_

"That's _the song that was supposed to play."_ Charlie thought.

Rawls tapped on Serena Joy's shoulder, getting her attention, "May I have this dance?"

"You most certainly may." Serena answered, leading him out to the floor. Around that time, Garth and Bess walked out that way as well. Pastor Jeff walked up to Jody, "Sheriff Mills, would you allow me to thank you for coming to my rescue?"

"Only if Rawls gets a turn to." Jody quipped accepting the offer.

Reason took Alex by the wrist and lead her out on the dance floor. That was when Charlie felt a tug on the leg of her pants suit. She looked down to see Maudie staring up at her.

"Looks like it's just you and me, huh?" Charlie quipped, crouching down so she was as small as her diminutive dance partner.

That afternoon everyone danced with everyone else at some point. Pastor Jeff gave Rawls the promised dance, as well as one with Charlie while Maudie did a dance of three partners, the others being Dean and Cas. Serena Joy reclaimed Reason for a couple of songs. Reason and Bess wound up dancing together somehow. There was impromptu mother-child dance.

Sometime around four the reception started to come to close. Hannah reclaimed the bouquet, and tossed it behind her. It ended up hitting Charlie, who wasn't ready to catch and bounced off her head, coming right at Serena Joy. She reached out and caught it, turning to look at Rawls with a wry smile.

Sam suddenly, put his arms under Hannah, picking her up and literally sweeping her off her feet. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"It's another tradition." Sam explained, "I have to carry you out to the car."

"Don't worry, Mom." Charlie called out as she took both of the boys by a hand, "I got these two."

And so, followed by their sons the couple stepped off into their forever.


	51. Honeymoon

**AN: Sorry this so late again. Hey, at least it's no eleven this time.**

"How long are you expected to carry me everywhere?" Hannah asked as they walked up on the porch of the robins' egg blue colonial. Well, more speficly he walked, and Hannah was in his arms.

"I think this is the last time." Sam told her, "Except for maybe the threshold of the bunker."

"But you already did that when we went back to get the boys settled with Charlie." Hannah pointed out.

The boys were sad at the prospect of their parents being gone, but they oddly enough took it rather well. Maybe it was because they had left them with sitters a few times now. Maybe it was because they had some warning. Whatever the case, after several hugs and reassurances, the parents had got out on the road, and had actually made good time.

Sam rang the bell at the dark wood table by the door and sat Hannah down. Within a few seconds, an older woman with ash blonde hair appeared from the other room. "Let me guess, you're the honeymooners."

"Yeah," Sam confirmed.

"Well, your room in the last one on the left, breakfast starts at eight, and there's a list of things to do in town right over there." She pointed to the table, "If you need anything ask for Marge or Rita. Actually no, don't ask for Rita. Rita's off today. Ask for Marge or Cora."

"Thank you." Sam replied, grabbing a list even though he didn't think they would need it as he walked up the stairs.

Their room was cozily arranged with a Jenny Lind bed covered in a thick royal blue comforter with matching pillow shams, with a bedside table on either side, though only the one on the right had a lamp. The curtains which matched the bedsheets, were tied to side, open, and they could see the sun setting through the window.

The couple sat their suitcases on the bed and Hannah started searching her person for something. "Sam, where's my phone?"

"In your jacket." Sam told her, undoing the language she had borrowed from him, "In the suitcase."

When they had got home, they both changed out to their wedding clothes, only for Hannah to realize she left her clothes at Serena Joy's and, not counting her wedding dress only had two outfits. So, they swung by out of town and got them.

"I'll get it." Sam told her, pulling out his own phone. He thought he knew what she wanted. It was what he wanted to.

He hit the speedail and put the phone on speaker, as they both sat down on the bed. Within a few seconds the line picked up and Charlie's voice came over it, "Hey, guys, you there yet?"

"Yeah." Sam confirmed, "Um, we just wanted to check on the boys."

"I just finally got some food in them." Charlie informed them, looking to where the boys were chowing down, "You do know I know how to cook, at least somewhat, right? And that I know how a microwave works?"

"Huh?" Sam responded.

"Yeah, someone let a post-it on the microwave with _very_ specific instructions." Charlie told him, "And the stove. And the blender. And the bathtub. And about half the things in the bunker, I think. I keep finding them every five minutes or so on something."

Sam looked over at Hannah, having a feeling he know where the mysterious notes had come from.

"I'm sorry." Hannah apologized in small voice, "I just worry…."

"It's alright, I get it." Charlie assured her, "Just—remember, I can do stuff. You trusted me for a reason, right?"

Hannah nodded; thought she knew Charlie couldn't see her. "Right. I know you said they were eating but—do you think we could talk to them for a few moments?

"Sure." Charlie said, coming back to the table, "Hey guys, it's your folks."

Both toddlers began clamoring up in their seats. "Hey Mommy!" Dean shouted, "Hey Daddy!"

"Hi Mommy and Daddy!" Cas repeated.

"Hi guys." Sam called back to them as Hannah called out, "Hello."

"You guys having fun with Charlie?" Sam asked.

"Uh-huh." Dean answered and Cas nodded.

"Castiel, honey," Hannah began, "We can't hear you nod or shake your head over the phone." She knew him well enough by now to guess that he was doing that.

"I having fun, too." Cas confirmed, "Are you having fun where you are?"

The couple exchanged looks. "Um, well, we just got here, and besides it's a bunch of boring adult stuff." Sam said.

"Oh." Cas responded, "Sowwy."

"You got nothing to be sorry about, bud." Sam assured him.

Dean looked back at his food. He really wanted to finish it, but he also really wanted to talk to his parents.

"Listen, I, ah, I think these guys are a little distracted right now." Charlie informed their parents.

"Right, we'll let you go eat then." Sam surrendered.

"We don't have to eat." Dean responded.

"Yeah, yeah buddy you do." Sam told him, "Eating is necessary to survive."

"What does survive mean?" Dean asked.

"It means to be healthy." Sam answered. It was close enough.

"Oh." Dean responded.

"So, we're going to let you do that." Hannah told them, "But we'll called back to say goodnight?"

"Promise?" Cas asked.

"Yes, baby, I promise." Hannah assured him.

That satisfied both children. "Love you." They called out.

"We love you, too." Sam told them.

"We love you." Hannah repeated.

With that they hung up and both adults were silent for a moment. "Maybe we should have brought them with us…." Hannah began, her voice trailing off. They had talked about bringing them along, but in the end decided against it.

"Maybe," Sam admitted looking over to her, "Well, make it up to them later, yeah?"

Hannah nodded in agreement. The pair sat in silence for a moment, their eyes going around the room. "Of course, that would've made this next part somewhat difficult…"

"We can wait if you want to." Sam told her.

"No," Hannah said, reaching out and running her fingers over his shoulders, "I want this. I want _you._ I've been—" Her voice trailed off, unsure if she could bring it up. But maybe he might like it. "I've been researching. What I'm supposed to do—"

"Wait a second." Sam cut her off, "What do you mean when you say 'research'?" He was well aware there was stuff out there that could give her a pretty wrong idea about what a healthy relationship looked like.

"Don't worry, the truly awful stuff was ripped from my hands." Hannah assured him.

"What does that mean?" Sam asked.

"You don't know want to know." Hannah replied, "You have nothing to worry about. I know what to do—and I know what's not allowed."

"Alright, then." Sam said, leaning in, then he realized something, "We probably need to close those curtains."

"Of course." Hannah agreed as he got up.

Sam drew the blinds, then turned around. "Also, they're probably not the only things that needs covering." He declared, heading to the bathroom.

When he came back, he found Hannah lying in the middle of the bed, right between the pillows, stiff as a board, her eyes close.

 _Yeah, that's reassuring._ Sam thought, the thoughts dripping with sarcasm. "You sure you're ready for this?"

"Yes." Hannah insisted.

Sam came closer, hovering above the bed, but leaning in. "Just…tell me if I'm hurting you, alright, and we'll stop."

"And you'll do the same?" Hannah requested.

"Huh?" Sam responded.

"Sam, I know I don't look it, but, physically wise, I'm stronger than you." Hannah reminded him.

"Right." Sam responded somewhat awkwardly, "Forgot about that for a minute, actually." He shifted awkwardly on the bed. Even though he had, had tinier lovers than Hannah, suddenly he was more aware of the size difference than he had ever been. "Here we go." He said, reaching out and pulling down the strap of his angel's dress, as she reached out and began unbuttoning her hunter's shirt.

Several minutes later, Marge, the proprietor of the establishment and the woman who had let the honeymooners in, was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of _Constant Comment_ when suddenly all the lights in the house starting flickering and then, one by one, lightbulbs started to shatter. Marge barely got out of the way in time, dodging the satting glass from the fixture above the table. That was about the time one of the doors upstairs opened and another guess-a traveling salesman she believed,-started running down the upstairs hall shouting the world was coming to an end and he'd see the wrath of God.

In their room, Sam and Hannah lay staring up at the ceiling. "The books didn't do it justice." Hannah declared finally.

"I'm –I'm glad you enjoyed it." Sam told her.

Hannah turned her body to face him. "And you? Was I…did I do it right?"

"Yes," Sam assured her, "Yes, everything about that was right." After a beat he added. "But…that thing with the lights isn't going to happen every time, is it?" He started up at the broke blub.

"I really hope not." Hannah responded, "That was actually kind of embarrassing."

The next morning Sam rolled over, finding no one to stop him. His eyes slowly opened and he raised up, and found Hannah sitting on the side of the bed, finally back in her regular clothes, putting her boots on. "Good morning." She greeted him, once she realized she was being watched.

"Ah, good morning." Sam responded, "You're up earlier."

"So are you." Hannah countered.

Sam laughed. "Alright, fair enough."

"I've been thinking." Hannah told her, "I think we should replace those lightbulbs we broke."

"Um, alright," Sam began, "How?"

"We could just leave the money somewhere where the owners would find it." Hannah reasoned, "Or more lightbulbs."

"Yeah, we could do that." Sam agreed, "So long as they don't know who gave it to them or why."

"Of course." Hannah responded. Then he her eyes darted around the room, then at Sam.

"What?" Sam asked.

"I was thinking maybe we could try a little—experiment." Hannah answered, starting to lean back onto the bed, "See whether or not that happens every time."

Sam smiled. "I think maybe I could help you with that experiment." Then the got close enough to kiss.

As Marge and her employees were preparing breakfast, the lights started to flicker. "Oh no, not again." Marge whispered, but fortunately this time all it did was flicker, so everyone quickly went to preparing the spread for breakfast.

When the couple finally got downstairs they found a motley assortment settled at the table: Marge, once again with a cup of tea, a man in a tan suit just staring into the distance as he stirred a bowl of oatmeal, a group of about, four teenagers, or possibly they were in their very earlier twenties, and, to Sam's dismay and surprise, two people he recognized. A man with short brown hair dressed in a dark blazer, and an elegant-looking woman with long amber-colored locks.

"You?!" Maggie Stark exclaimed up laying her eyes on Sam, those eyes widening a little in surprised, making it look like she was upset by his presence. Which she probably was.

"You!" Sam repeated, actually taking a step back, grabbing his wife by the elbow to take her with him.

"You know each other?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah," Sam admitted, "Hannah, this is Maggie and Don Stark, Maggie, Don, this um, my wife, Hannah."

"You're married now?!" Maggie exclaimed.

"Um, yeah." Sam confirmed.

"We're on our honeymoon actually." Hannah admitted, "How do you all—"

"We met on a hunt." Sam explained, figuring the other would just assume he meant like a deer or duck or turkey hunt.

"Congratulations." Don spoke up, flatly, before putting a cup of coffee to his lips.

"So, you're…. like Sam." Hannah responded, figuring they would understand what she meant without alerting the others.

Don sputtered out his coffee.

"Oh, God, no, we're…." Maggie began, before remembering where they were. "You know what, maybe now isn't the best time for this conversation."

"Yeah." Sam agreed, leading Hannah to the end of the table opposite the Starks withering, "They're witches. We working a string of weird deaths and _they_ caused them because she thought he was cheating! He wasn't by the way. And then they tried to kill me and Dean."

"Why aren't they dead?" Hannah whispered back.

"Um, we tried and we failed." Sam answered, grabbing a muffin off the table before getting up, "On second thought, maybe it'd be better if we just left."

"Good call." Hannah agreed before they fled the room.

"I can just fix the engine." Maggie mocked her husband when they left.

"Mags, don't start again." Don pleaded.

An hour later Hannah was standing in front of rows of jars of different brightly stripped sticks in different flavors. Peppermint, sour apple, root beer watermelon, cotton candy, blueberry, passionfruit, peaches and cream, cherry, grape, butterscotch, clover, banana, licorice lemon. Something called Pina colada, and something called strawberry daiquiri and something else called sassafras. It was a little overwhelming.

That was when Sam came into that second of the store. "You about ready?"

"Just picking out some candy for the boys." Hannah answered, "There's just so many." She started grabbing one of each. Two of some flavors, in case they both wanted it.

"You know you're spoiling them, right?" Sam asked.

"Who let them watch two films in a row last week?" Hannah pointed out.

"In my defense I really didn't think they had the attention span." Sam replied. Then he just stared, patiently watching her make her selections, only offering the suggestion of, "You might want to get two blueberries. They'll both want it for the color."

Later that morning, Marge walked into her study and found five packs of light blues with post-it on it that read: _Sorry._

Meanwhile, back in Lebanon, Charlie was walking into the library with the twins and Maudie. "Okay, how does this work?" Charlie asked, not certain they would be the best source of information.

"We play over there until Miss Honey comes." Dean answered, pointing to a toy bin in the corner where several kids were playing.

"Alright, have at it, then." Charlie told them and the three ran off. Charlie sat herself down in one of the chairs in the play area.

"New to town?" A voice said beside her.

She turned to an older Asian woman sitting in the chair next to her, holding a rather shiny purse at her side with a chubby baby girl on her lap. Sam would have recognized the woman as Selene MacNabb and the baby as Samantha Noel.

"No, I'm just babysitting for some friends of mind." Charlie explained, "They're on their honeymoon. Man, that feels so weird to say."

"Hey, they're hardly the first person to do things out of order." Selene assured her.

"Actually, they didn't—well, I guess they kind of did…." Charlie stammered out.

Just then Miss Honey came up and the kids started to gather around and settle down.

A scheduling mixes up had caused serval babies to be present that day, as well as children transitioning to the older toddler group. Within a few minutes of story time beginning, half of them had lost focus, staring at the shiny purse in the corner.

"Ah, I think some of the little guys are staring at you." Charlie told her companion.

Selene, looked and realized that yes, serval was looking in her direction. Still, she brushed it off. "They're probably just looking everywhere. Infants and toddlers aren't known for their long attention spans."

However, as the story time went on, the babies who had more movement started crawling or waddling to Selene, as staring up at her shiny purse in fascination.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's you their interested." Charlie told her, "Or more specify, your bag."

"Oh." Selene said slowly, realizing what was happening.

Miss Honey looked up from the story she was currently reading and found seven babies all gathered around the woman with the shiny purse, staring at the item in fascination, and had to bite back a bit of laughter.

Just then Charlie's phone went off. Look down she said, "It's my friends. I-I know we just met, but would mind watching my kids for a moment while I take this?"

"Sure, I'll just hold up the shiny and they won't go anywhere." Selene responded.

"Thanks." Charlie responded, fleeing the area.

"So, you're leaving right now?" Charlie summarized on the other end of the phone after Sam explained the situation to her.

"Yeah, we just got re-packed." Sam said, shutting his suitcase.

"So, you're just going to let them—you know, go?" Charlie asked.

"Well, I looked into it and they're haven't been any mysterious deaths in this town." Sam informed her, "And I still actually haven't figured out how to kill them, since the last spell didn't work."

"Well, last time you didn't have a celestial being with you." Charlie pointed out.

"Okay admittedly hadn't thought of that." Sam responded, then called over to Hannah, "Hey, Hannah how would you feel about helping me kill the Starks?"

"Sure." Hannah responded.

Just then there a knock on the doorframe. They turned to see Maggie Stark standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, Charlie, I think I'm going to have to call you back." Sam said, before hanging up. "How much a of that did you hear?"

"What exactly did you say that you didn't want me to hear?" Maggie countered.

"What makes you think there was something we didn't want you to hear?" Hannah challenged.

"Well, why else would he ask that?" Maggie reasoned, "Look, I know the last time we encountered each other, we didn't exactly get off the right foot—"

"You attacked us with bees, slammed us into walls, and put a hex bag in our room." Sam reminded her.

"Which Don then removed and saved you from some indestructible—toothy thing in the process." Maggie responded, "Anyway, we want to make it up to you. We still have another day before they replace our car, so, how about you two, me and me and Don, what passes for fine dining in the town."

Sam and Hannah exchanged confused looks. What was happening here?

"Come on, it's on us." Maggie insisted, "And if you're worried it's some kind of trap, here." She took of all things, a clip of bullets out of her pocket and held it out, "Witch-killing bullets. "After a beat she added, "I'm not taking no for an answer here."

"Fine." Sam reluctantly agreed, reaching out and taking the bullets, "What time were you thinking?"

"So, wait, not only are you not coming back early, but you're double-dating with the phsyco killer witches now?" Charlie balked.

In her shock she forgot who she was having this conversation in front of and three little sets of eyes, two blue, one green, stared up at her.

"What's a double date?" Cas asked.

"What's a phsyco killer?" Dean asked.

"What's a witch?" Maudie asked.

"Wait, are the kids there?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I took them out to lunch after toddler time." Charlie answered, then putting a hand over her mouth said, "Don't worry, I hadn't told them yet."

"Well, we're still trying to leave, but every time we try to step out, they're there somehow." Sam answered, "They're in the living room or on the porch or the kitchen. Apparently, they're just waiting for their car to be replaced, and don't have anywhere else to be. So, maybe we're just something to keep them occupied."

"Yeah, what were they doing there anyway?" Charlie asked, her hands still around her mouth, which only seemed to pique their curiosity more.

"Don't know." Sam admitted, "Maybe I'll ask them if we don't wind up fighting for our lives. At least I checked and the bullets are the real deal."

Eventually they wound up sitting at teal metal table across from the Starks, Sam with a hand in his jacket trying to appear casual as Hannah felt her angel blade stored in clothes. "So," Sam began finally, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well, we were trying to get a conference in Topeka." Don explained, "There was some confusion with the airline so we decide it was best to just drive the rest of the way when we got to Kansas, but then our car broke down…"

"And this one says he has a spell that fix only for it to—" She made an exploding gesture with her hands as well as explosion noises, "Blow up like a pinto!"

"Mags, please don't." Don pleaded, rubbing his temple.

"What, I can't even talk about?" Maggie challenged.

"I've said I was sorry, like, fifty times." Don responded.

"He asked what happen, I was just telling him." Maggie insisted.

Thankfully that was when the server arrived with their drinks, stopping the conversation. The second the beer he ordered was sat in front of him Sam took a gulp. He wasn't sure he could do this sober.  
"Everyone ready to order." The waitress, a perky blonde named Janine asked.

"Yes, I'll have the steak and fries." Don told her.

"I'll have the fish with the tossed salad." Maggie added.

"Ah, cob salad." Sam requested.

"I'll have what he's having." Hannah told the girl.

"Alright, I'll be right out with that." Janine assured them, finishing writing down the order, then walking up.

After Janine left. Maggie stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom. Hannah, care to join me?"

"That's alright, I actually don't urinate." Hannah explained.

"Well, that's—odd." Maggie responded, before gabbing Hannah by the wrist, "Come with me anyway."

Hannah allowed herself to be led away, throwing a look back at Sam.

After they were gone, Don turned to Sam. "They're going to talk about us."

"Huh?" Sam responded.

"You know, all the dirty secrets." Don elaborated, "You know, if we snore, how good we are in bed. Though, I admit, if last night was any indication, you win."

Sam took another gulp of his beer.

"So, what is she anyway?" Don asked.

"Huh?" Sam replied.

"Well, from the way she was talking this morning, she's not a hunter." Don reasoned, "And from last night's display she's not a normal human. So, what is she, witch, physic…"?

"Angel." Sam admitted.

"I'm sure she is, but seriously." Don replied.

"No, I mean, she's literally an angel." Sam insisted, wondering if this was someone, he should be admitting that too, "Wings, halo, the whole enchilada."

"Really?" Don responded, "Well I guess that explains the no peeing thing."

"I know it's none of my business, but you seem really mad at Don." Hannah noted from her spot leaned up against the bathroom sink.

"Et tu, Hannah?!" Maggie responded from inside the stall, "I'm not trying to pick a fight over this, I literally just telling the story. And trust, me this is going to happen to you and big and tall eventually."

"It already has a couple of times." Hannah admitted.

There was a flush than Maggie came out, "Really? I'd figure you two would still be in the honeymoon phase. You know, considering that you're actually on their honeymoon."

"Well, we had a life together before we got married." Hannah reasoned, "There were…issues to deal with, things we didn't always agree on."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense." Maggie reasoned as she washed her hands, "But just for the record: Never fighting, not realistic, two much fighting, not healthy."

"I'll keep that mind." Hannah responded, not thinking she would really taking advice from a woman whose martial conflicts had a body count, even if she did kind of have a point.

"Well, I'm sure your brother must be thrilled about this development." Don was saying back at the table, "At least I thought he was your brother."

"That-that's…" Sam stammered out, when he saw the woman returning, "Oh, look who's back. Hey, honey."

As the woman were sitting down, the glass window broke as a woman with long dark hair, dressed in purple in black burst through. "Starks!" She shouted.

Everyone at the table stood up. "Seriously?!" Maggie exclaimed, "How is she not dead?"

"Presumably the same way we aren't." Don responded.

"Wait, you know her?" Sam balked.

"Yeah, she was merchant's daughter back in the 1800s." Don answered, "We may or may not have stolen her whole fortune out from under her."

Sam huffed. "Of course." Then he addressed the witch. "Look, lady, I get your mad, but can you do this somewhere-not here? I mean, look around, these people haven't done anything to you."

The witch looked around. "Fair enough." She reasoned then glared at the Starks, "You two. Meet me in the alley."

The Starks slowly marched outside, abashed, Sam and Hannah following them. "No, you two should stay here." Maggie said.

"Actually, Mags, maybe a little extra power on our side wouldn't be a bad thing." Don whispered to her.

"No, because we're not going to fight her." Maggie responded.

"You're not?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah, we're not?" Don rephrased.

"No, because we're going to make this right." Maggie declared firmly.

Realizing his wife was right he said softly, "It's worth a shot."

And so, the Winchesters listened in the kitchen while the Starks and the other witch, Alice apparently, screamed and cried, flew a few spells and in the end wound up exchange a check before Alice hugged Maggie.

Charlie was sitting in the hallway with her hands behind her back, as if they were bound, looking up at the clock, wondering if the boys forgot they were supposed to rescuing her. "Hold!" She called out finally, "Guys, I'm going to have to get you in the tub soon and I'm starting to cramp up here! Can we get on with this rescue already?"

"We're trying." Dean called out, "But there's lots of trolls."

 _What can I say?_ Charlie thought with a sigh, _I did this to myself._ Then she got an idea…

A few minutes later, Dean and Cas were waving imaginary swords at imagery trolls, fighting fiercely. Dean grabbed the numb-chucks and lobbed it at the air.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Charlie summersaulted into the room, with her own air-sword. "Looks like you boys could use some help."

"Hey!" Dean responded, "I thought the trolls gotted you."

"We were supposed to rescue you." Cas protested.

"Well, at the rate you guys were taking I was going to be troll chow." Charlie reasoned, stabbing at the air. That was when her phone went off. "That might be your parents, guys, I gotta take this."

"You didn't say hold." Cas reminded her.

"Alright, hold." Charlie said before answering the phone, "High, Hannah."

"Hey, Charlie." Hannah responded, "We're on our way back."

"Really." Charlie responded.

"There's something about nearly being caught in the middle of a gurge match between three witches that turned into a restorative justice session that makes you want to cut your trip short." Hannah replied.

Charlie winched. "And the Starks?"

Hannah was silent for a moment. "Apparently the check needs time to clear. I mean, except for extensive property damage Alice didn't so anything, why should she be punished? Plus they agreed to pay for said property damage and certainly the owner of the restraunt didn't so anything."

"Fair enough." Charlie reasoned, "Well, the boys are going to thrilled. Do you want to talk to them?"

"That would be lovely, thank you. "Hannah confirmed, "Just let me put the phone on speaker so Sam can hear too."

Charlie held out the phone. "Hey, guys, it's Mommy."

"Mommy, Charlie's being mean!" Dean accused.

That got Hannah worried. "What do you mean she's being mean?"

"She escapeded from the trolls by herself!" Dean elaborated.

Sam burst out laughing. "Well, you can't expect the damsel in distress to wait around for you all day, bud."

"What's a damsel?" Cas asked.

"A fancy word for a lady." Sam answered, then steered the conversation back to their premature return, "We're on our way back guys."

"Yay!" Dean cheered, "Can we wait up for you?"

Hannah and Sam exchanged looks. "Tell you what, bud, I'll make you a deal. If you do everything Charlie tells you, too, and you can actually manage to keep awake, and go to bed right an after we get home, you both can wait up."

"Deal." Dean agreed.

"Which means baths." Charlie spoke up.

"Okay." Dean agreed, more reluctantly this time.

"We love you guys." Sam told him.

"We'll see you really soon." Hannah added.

"Love you!" They both called before the call ended.

The couple sat in silence of a moment. "It's good." Hannah said, "Getting back to them."

"Yeah." Sam agreed.

"I hoped they like what we brought them." Hannah added.

"Since you spent like, what, ten dollars on candy sticks, they better." Sam commented. There was silence for a moment, then Sam said, "Hannah I'm sorry."

Hannah looked over at him. "For what?"

"That things turned out like—this." Sam answered.

"It wasn't your fault." Hannah told him, "You couldn't have known they'd be there. And besides—technically we did what we came there to do."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, yeah we did." Then he got an idea. No, she wouldn't be into that. Would she? "You know…."

"What?" Hannah responded.

"We still have some time until we get home." Sam hinted.

Hannah got the hint, but was still confused. "Sam we're in the middle of nowhere. And you're driving, how can we…." Then it dawned on her. "Oh…."

Suddenly Sam got nervous, worrying he had crossed a line. "I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine…"

"Not, actually…" Hannah began, "I think I'd like to try that."

"If you're sure." Sam caucnioned, pulling over to the shoulder.

Five minutes later a second generation of Winchesters made some _very_ specific in the backseat.

Meanwhile, Dean, in his pajamas was pushing a chair from the kitchen, trying to get it to the foot of the stairs. He wasn't getting very far, because it was big and heavy and made an awful soon whenever it scrapped against the floor, so Dean was stopping every second.

"Whoa, what are you doing, little man?" Charlie asked, walking into the room with Cas in her arms.

"I'm waiting for Mommy and Daddy." Dean answered.

"Well, you're never going to get it there at this rate." Charlie nodded, "Cas, I'm going to have to put you down for a minute." She sat the toddler down next to his brother, then carried the chair to its destination than got one for Cas.

An hour later, both brothers were slumped over in their chains sleeping.

Charlie couldn't help but smile. "Well, you tried little guys." She assured them, gathering them both in her arms and walking them into their bedroom.

Charlie was awaking by the sound of the phone going off. "Hello?" She asked groggily.

"Charlie it's me again." Hannah said as she pulled into the garbage. Sam needed to sleep so she drove the rest of the way a certain point. "Did they boys win their father's challenge?"

"Not exactly." Charlie replied.

"Yeah, well, Sam didn't either." Hannah told her, looking over at the sleeping hunter. "Speaking of which, I need to wake him up. See you in a moment."

"You too." Charlie agreed, hanging up to go greet them.

Hannah started gently nudging Sam. "Sam?" She called out, "Sam, honey, time to wake up."

Sam woke up with a small gasp. "What?"

"We're here." Hannah told him.

"Oh." Sam breathed, "Are the boys still up?"

"No, but I think I woke up Charlie." Hannah admitted.

As they walked into the bunker, the redhead was waiting for them. "Hey, guys," She greeted them, "Boy, you guys look rough."

"Thanks." Sam responded, "The boys didn't give you too much trouble, did they?"

Charlie laughed a little. "They weren't really that much trouble at all."

The trio picked into the boy's room to find them still fast asleep.

"They look so sweet." Hannah whispered.

"I know." Sam replied, his whisper turning into a yawn.

Hannah's eyes went over to him. "Sounds like they have the right idea, come on."

And once again, it was good to be home.


	52. Father's Day

**AN: Sorry for the tardy timing again. And happy Father's Day.**

After that, things started settling down, and getting back to normal. Well, at least normal as it was defined for the Winchesters. Sam continued to work at the kennel and Hannah sold make up, they'd look around for a case every now and then, but never actually found anything, and took care of the twins. As for Dean and Castiel, they were just—toddlers. They played and learned and grew. Also, during this time, a certain holiday came around.

The morning of this holiday, Sam was woken up by a heavy force of on his chest. His eyes fluttered opened to see two pairs of eyes, one set green, the other blue staring down at him.

"Happy Father's Day!" The boys chimed at about the same time.

"Huh?" Sam responded, still not fully awake and having trouble processing.

"It's Father's Day!" Cas informed them, trying to wrap his arms around his father.

"How—how do you even know that's a thing?" Sam asked.

Sam's darted around the room and found Hannah standing in the corner, her arms folded. "Sorry, Sam." Hannah said apologically, "They were really excited and wanted to give you your cards."

"You got cards!" Dean announced, holding out three cards, bouncing on his father's chest.

"Omp!" Sam got out, "I'm gonna need you to stop bouncing, bud." As Dean did, he took the cards from him, "These are amazing guys, thank you."

"You're welcome." Cas responded.

"We love you, Daddy!" Dean beamed, getting Sam in awkward hug.

"Okay, boys, we need to actually let Daddy get out of the bed now." Hannah told them, helping the toddlers off the bed.

As Sam got up right, he challenged, "Race to see who can get to the kitchen first?!"

"Okay!" The boys agreed, scrambling out of the room.

Hannah noticed a little smile sliding across Sam's face. "What's that smile for?"

"Noting…just 'happy father's day's' three I never thought I'd hear directed at me." Sam admitted.

Hannah felt her hear do a sad little squeeze. Clearing her throat, she added, "Especially from two children who are also your brothers?"

Sam's smiled widened. "Yeah, that too." He got up, "Now, I should probably actually try to beat them into the kitchen."

Meanwhile, at an apartment complex somewhere in town Benedict Rawls was holding his cusion hostage.

At least that was the way Edith was viewing it. Rawls had called her last night suggesting she come over today, and then showed up at her place that morning—which to be fair, since she lived one floor above him wasn't hard, and insisted she come over.

"Rawls, this is ridiculous." Edith insisted, "I'm not going to have another melt down. Mother's Day was a fluke, I was one the who left Dad, what do I have to be upset about?"

"You might want to think about that sentence." Rawls responded, as he grabbed a cordless phone from the counter, "Sorry, but I need to check on Elsbeth…also probably Reason." He didn't know what exactly had went down because he didn't ask questions, but he knew enough to know that something had gone down there.

"You know you don't have to be everyone's guardian, right?" Edith commented, "And Reason's not Stephie?"

"That's not what going on here." Rawls told her, still holding the phone, "I just got some investments in the kid, and with Els and the girls…well, someone's got to pick up the slack since our family's such a gothic novel I'm surprised the misfit hasn't come in and shot everybody."

That made Edith raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I kind of lost it at the end." Rawls admitted, dialing a number.

Meanwhile, Reason was preparing breakfast, trying to pretend Father's Day didn't exist.

Hannah explained Father's Day to the boys when Maudie wasn't around, swore them to secrecy, and only let them work on the cards, before Maudie came over or after she left, keeping the little girl blissfully unaware. The girl was going to realize it soon enough when she got into school had her own pencil holders, she had no one to give to, but until then, Reason wasn't going to let her know.

"Here, you go, baby girl." Reason said, sitting a bowel of grits in front of Maudie before sitting across from her with her own bowel. She worried both were a little watery.

However, Maudie seemed perfectly content, putting a spoonful in her mouth and swallowing. "When are we going to see Dean and Cas?"

"Baby, Mommy took off, remember?" Reason reminded her. Yes, that's how desperate she was to hide this holiday from her little girl. She didn't think the Winchesters were doing anything much, and she's like to think they would warn for before bringing Maudie over if they were, but still, she wasn't taking any chances.

"But I have something to give Mr. Sam." Maudie protested, fidgeting in her chair, starting to get agitated.

Confused, Reason sat her spoon down. "Maudie, what do you have to give Mr. Sam?"

Maudie tried to push away from the slab, declaring, "I show you."

Maudie lead her Mother to her bank collection where she pulled out a her purse, opening it and taking out a picture done on blue construction paper. It had a rather large figure being ridden by a smaller one. "That's me and that's Mr. Sam." Maudie explained, handing the picture to Reason. As Reason just stared at its Maudie continued. "Dean and Cas were making pictures and I wasn't supposed to know but I saw anyway and…"

Reason got on her knees so she was as tall as her daughter was, "Maudie, sweetie, the boys were making pictures because Mr. Sam is their Daddy. You know—you know he's not your daddy, right?" For some reason that concerned the young mother at the moment. What if he daughter mistakingly believed they were living polygamy?

"I know." Maudie answered, "But he does Daddy things with me, so can I still give it to him?"

Reason was silent for a moment, letting what Maudie said sink in. The girl was right. Sam calmed her tantrums, roughhoused with her, taught her thins, cashed the monsters away. "I'm an idiot." The young mother said out loud before she could stop herself, then pulled Maudie into a hug. "Of course, my sweet girl. I'll-I'll call him right now to see if it's a good time to come over."

Meanwhile, Sam was making some check-in calls of his own. Father's Day had slightly less baggage for his circle of people than Mother's Day, but not by much.

He just wished he hadn't caught Jody _at_ her family's gravesite.

"I am so sorry." He repeated for the fifth time.

"It's alright, you didn't know." Jody assured her, "But, um, people are starting to stare, so I better go."

"Yeah, of course." Sam agreed.

"And Sam?" Jody asked, "Thanks for checking up."

"No problem." Sam replied before hanging up.

Charlie Burberry had wound up sleeping in, and was awoken by her phone going off. "Hello?" She gorged into the phone.

"Hey, Charlie, it's Sam." He informed her, "I just wanted to make sure…you're doing alright today?"

"Yeah, Sam, I'm fine." Charlie assured him, "Why would I…" His voice trailed out as she realized what day it was.

"Charlie…" Sam began again, concerned.

"I'm okay." Charlie responded, "So…any big plans today?"

"No, just—got _Noggin_ on." Sam answered.

" _Noggin_?" Charlie repeated, "Is that channel still even around?"

"Apparently." Sam responded, "And kids seem to like it, and hey, at least it's somewhat educational. I actually didn't know it was a thing until now."

Just then there a call waiting _beep_.

"Sorry, Charlie, I think I'm getting another call, I'll be right back I promise." Sam told her.

"Hey, no worries." Charlie assured him. "And Sam, happy Father's Day."

Sam hesitated. "Thanks." He said before switching. "Hello?"

"Sam, it's Reason." She said on the other end of the line, "I know I said I wasn't going to today, but would it be okay if I bring Maudie over? She…. well, you're going to want to see for yourself."

"Yeah, sure of course." Sam agreed, "Do you—do you need a ride of anything?"

"No. "Reason responded, "No, that's fine. I need to get some clothes on her then we'll be on our way. I'll let you know when we're getting close." After a beat she added, "See you in a few."

"You too." Sam agreed.

Meanwhile, back at Rawls' he was on the phone with Elsbeth.

"I want you know your niece is insisting on wearing a leopard print jump suit to church." Elsbeth told him.

"W-What?" Rawls responded, unable to keep a laugh out of his voice.

"That leopard jump suit Scarlet wanted that I've been trying to get her to wear for weeks and now she wants to wear it." Elsbeth elaborated.

"I thought your church was pretty casual." Rawls responded.

"Not the point, Benny." Elsbeth growled.

"Alright, alright." Rawls conceded, "Is she there? If she is, but us on speaker."

Sitting the phone on the fuax-leather ottoman, Elsbeth did as instructed and called out, "Hey, Scarlet, Uncle Benny wants to talk to you."

Scarlett, holding the offending jumpsuit, hurried over to the ottoman. "Hi, Uncle Benny." She smiled, "Did you get your fudge?"  
"Fudge?" Rawls repeated.

"Pixie did a Father's Day craft with a bunch of her kids, these three included, it was, um, fudge in a box they made look like leather." Elsbeth explained, "The girls decided to mail it to you."

Rawls had some very mixed feelings about that. "Thanks, girls. No, I'm here about the jumpsuit. Could you please just give your mom a break and wear something else?"

"Can I wear my plaid dress with the lace at the bottom?" Scarlett asked.

"Sure." Elsbeth agreed.

"Okay." Scarlett responded, running off to play with her sisters.

Elsbeth switched the phone off of speaker so she and Rawls could speak privately, then called out, "Hey, girls, Mama's gonna go talk in private, can you stay in here by yourselves for a moment?"

"Okay." Venessa called out, wrapping a saffron scarf around the neck of Dory's deer.

Elsbeth got up and walked into the kitchen. Lowering her voice, she asked, "Benny, when's the last time you actually heard from Dorian?"

Rawls was momentarily taken aback by the question. "Don't tell me you actually still worry about him."

"Don't yell you don't." Elsbeth responded, then, after making sure no little ears were listening in, added, "Yeah, he's a scumbag but he's still your brother."

"Alright, in complete honestly the last time I heard from him was last year when he was calling me everything he could think of because I wouldn't fly out to Austin to bail him out of jail." Rawls admitted.

"Yeah, he called to me to bail him out too." Elsbeth confessed, "Called me every named he could think of too. And a couple I'm surprised he knew. So charming." After a beat she added, "And Benny, while I have you on the phone, there's something else we need to talk about."

Meanwhile, Serena Joy was at Reason's door, knocking. She waited then when no one answered, tried again. "Hey, bus girl! You hear?!" She peaked in the windows and saw no one was there. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be too worrying, as she could had just gone out, but since Serena Joy knew Reason planned on cutting off all contact with the outside world today, it was bit worrisome. Turning around she ran for her car.

Reason was walking with Maudie in her arms when suddenly a familiar blue nova going over the speed limit, pulled up next to her. "There you are!" Serena Joy exclaimed, "Why didn't you answer your phone?!"

Reason managed to get her one out. "Oops." She responded, abashed, "I, un, had it on silent."

"You had it on silent?" Serena Joy responded, "Get in the car."

Guilty for worrying her friend, Reason obeyed.

"What were you even doing out here, anyway?" Serena Joy asked.

Maudie answered for her mother, holding out the picture. "I want to give this picture to Mr. Sam."

Serena Joy took the picture and examined.

"Mr. Sam does Daddy things, so I can give it to him." Maudie continued, "Mommy said so."

Serena Joy gave Reason a questioning look.

"Well, she came up with the Daddy things part on her own." Reason explained.

 _That's kind of deep for a three-year-old._ Serena Joy thought. "Come on then," She said, pulling off of the solider, "Let's get you there."

"Don't you have to be at your parents?" Reason asked.

"I'll just have to be fashionably late." Serena Joy reasoned, "No big deal."

Just then, as Reason was putting the sound back on her phone it went off. Picking it up she asked, "Hello?"

"Hey, Reason, uh, it's me, Rawls." He began, "I just felt like checking in today."

"Oh, well, ah, thanks?" Reason responded, "Everything's good here, Serena was, ah, actually dropping us off somewhere."

"Oh." Rawls responded, "That's—that's great." Just then the door rang. "I, ah, think I got to go. Sorry to call and run."

"No problem." Reason responded before hanging up.

Rawls peaked through the door, then opened it up, revealing a delivery man. "I got a package for ah Benedict Rawls?"

"That's me, unfortunately." Rawls commented, signing for the package, which was promptly handed to him. "Thanks, buddy, have a good day."

"You as well." The delivery man said, before walking off as Rawls went back inside.

Rawls set the box on the table and opened it up, revealing three smaller boxes covered with tape that had been layered and covered with shoe polish to look like leather. "Hey, Edith," He called out, coming back over to her, "I think the girls' fudge came in." He opened it up, revealing that yes, it was the fudge. "You want some?"

"Sure." Edith confirmed, picking up a square. They ate in silence for a minute then Edith asked, "So are we going to pretend I didn't overhear what I overheard? You know what I'm talking about."

Rawls sighed. "Well, I guess we can't now."

"Is she really going to do it?" Edith asked, "Just—uproot stakes like that?"

"She doesn't want to." Rawls answered, "She's trying not to." After beat he added, "But the sister might be giving her a choice."

Back at the bunker, Sam was finishing his last check-in call.

"Talk to you later." He said, hanging up.

"So, how is she?" Hannah asked, standing in the door way.

"Patience still won't talk to her father." Sam answered, "And he can forget about a Father's Day car this year."

That was when Dean's voice called out, "Daddy! Come watch with us!"

"I think you're being summoned." Hannah declared. That was when the knocking started. "Go. I'll get it."

When Hannah opened the door to find Reason and Maudie, who was doing an excited little dance.

"Come in." Hannah greeted, ushering them inside.

"Where's Mr. Sam?" Maudie asked bluntly.

"Right down here." Hannah told her, leading the way.

Sam in a chair, Dean under his arm and Cas curled up in his lap when he heard a familiar voice calling for him. "Mr. Sam!" Maudie exclaimed running into room with Reason calling behind to slow down, before scrambling up in the chair and pulling out picture on blue construction paper, "I made this for you!"

Sam looked at the picture in surprise.

"From what I gathered; Maudie accidently saw one of the cards so Dean squealed." Reason explained, walking in.

Dean's eyes widened and he began to squirm uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to." He protested.

"It's okay, bud." Sam soothed, not wanting to penalize the child for being honest.

"Mommy says that Dean and Cas made you pictures because you're they're Daddy." Maudie continued, "But I told Mommy you did Daddy things so she said I could give it to you anyways."

Sam's heart did a little flip, as his brain clicked with understanding. He had some personal experience with what Maudie meant. "Well, that was very nice of Mommy." He said, pulling Maudie into a hug, "And this was very, very sweet of you. Thank you, Maudie. I love it."

That earned him a bright smile from the little girl who then curled up on Sam's other side. They all contently sat there like that for a while.

"I think he might be enjoying this too much." Hannah smirked to Reason.

"I think I'm enjoying this just the right amount." Sam called back to her.

 **AN: Is** _ **Noggin**_ **' still a thing? I honestly don't know. It's been a while since I've been in the demographic range and I only have some vague memories of it.**


	53. Carnival of Errors

It all started when the carnival came to town.

Hannah hadn't really even known about it until she stopped for gas on the way home. Going into pay she saw the local paper with a side-article about the carnival that featured a picture she recognized from her murder board. The strong man. "Excuse me," She asked, "How much for a paper?"

Sam looked as a paper was slapped down in front of him. "I think I found a case in town." Hannah told him.

Sam looked up in surprise. "Huh?"

Hannah pointed at the lanky boy on the page. "This one, the Amazing Samson. Doesn't look like he can hit a hundred on the scale, yet he can lift whole cars over his head. I think he might be one of mine. You think you can watch the kids for a few hours?"

"What?" Sam responded, "You're going _now_? Alone?"

"Sam, the fair's only in town a week." Hannah reasoned.

"Yeah, but-"Sam began, "You have no clue what you're walking into, you've said yourself these guys can get violent, and-and no offense, but you don't always—"

"That was one time." Hannah cut him off, suddenly regretting telling him about what went down when she and Cas first set out on their mission.

"Alright, fair enough, but what if what happened in Washington state happens again?" Sam countered.

What happened in Washington state was that just when they were about to leave the place was surrounded by demons and she wound up having to call Sam for backup. Two people died and they barely escaped with their lives.

"Look, I'll come with you. "Sam declared, "Just give me a second to grab a gun and we'll find someone to watch the kids."

Fifteen minutes later, the pair pulled onto the parking lot for the fair, and Sam saw Hannah starting to remove her rings. "Ah, Hannah…" He began, "What are you doing?"

"My siblings still don't know about what happen to Dean and Castiel." Hannah reasoned, wrapping her arms around her neck and removing her locket, "And they definitely don't know about us, I'm not taking any chances."

"Yeah, but don't you think you're going a little overboard though?" Sam asked, "I mean, this angel hasn't meant you before. For all he knows the jewelry belongs to your—well, you know, that thing he haven't found another term for yet."

"Sam, have you even seen an angel with a wedding ring?' Hannah pointed out, opening the glovebox, and carefully depositing in the jewelry inside.

Sam was silent a moment. He didn't think the angel had enough awareness or guilt to actually remove something like a wedding band, but now he thought of it, he had never seen a wedding band on Cas' hand. Or any other angel for that matter. "I should probably take mine off too." He said finally, removing the band. "Just in case."

Meanwhile, at Reason's trailers, the children were engaging with their favorite activity while over there, that is, playing with Fred the goat. (Although Maudie still insisted Fred was girl, and Reason was started to wonder if she was right.)

That was when Dean pulled on Reason's pants leg. "Miss Reason?" Dean asked, "I got to use the potty."

"Alright, one second." Reason told him, before calling out, "Hey guys, time for a potty break!"

"Aw!" Cas and Maudie protested.

"Come guys, Fred will be here when we get back." Reason said, gesturing for them to follow her.

They all sat around the bathroom door, while Dean did his business. "Everything okay in there, bud?"

"Uh-huh." Dean responded, "I think I'm ready."

"Five more minutes little guy." Reason responded.

There were quiet for a moment, then Dean asked, "Where the paper?"

Reason didn't understand what he was asking for. "What paper, baby?"

"The paper you lose to make your butt clean." Dean answered.

"That's called toilet paper, baby and it should be on the back of the seat." Reason told him.

There was another moment than Dean called out. "There's just an empty roll."

Reason jutted her head up. "What?" She hurried into the bathroom and found, that, yes, the toilet paper roll was complete bare. "Alright, we'll just—replace the roll." She looked under the cabinet where she kept him, only to find an empty wrapper. "No, no, no, no." This was _not_ good. Even if the mysterious errand Sam and Hannah were on only took a few hours, they were going to probably going need toilet paper soon. Most certainly Dean did. But getting three three-year-olds down the road was going to be like herding cats even with the leashes. Reason pulled her phone out and dialed Serena Joy's number. "Hey, Serena? "She began when her friend picked up, "I'm sorry if this is a bad time, but I really need a favor."

Meanwhile, Sam and Hannah were in a crowd of people being led into brightly painted structure, with the words HOUSE OF ODDITIES by an older, bespectacled woman with faded blonde hair, dressed in a ringleader's suit and top hat.

"Ladies and gentlemen," The ringleader began in a light German lilt as they entered and hunting music that reminded Sam of 'In The Air Tonight' began to play," If you have any heart conditions, anxiety disorders, or are just faint of heart, I must ask you to come back now, because you are about to enter a world where the very body itself is pushed beyond its limits."

They stopped in front of strange where a leather trunk sat. The ringleader stepped up and unlaunched the truck, opening the lid and stepped back, and a leg stuck out. Then another. Then an arm. Then another armed. Finally, the head of a woman with auburn hair pined up on her head popped out, as puled herself out of the trunk, only to put her arms and head on the floor and she put her legs on either side of her head. She continued to twist herself into positions no one would've thought possible for three or four minutes.

"She wouldn't be an angel too by any chance, would she?" Sam whispered over to Hannah.

Hannah shook her head. From what she would tell, the woman was completely human. She didn't know how she was doing that.

The ringleader step down. "And where your worst nightmares come to life…"

A curtain on the stage across from the contortionist opened up revealing someone, a woman if the cherry red bikini was any indication, but it was hard to tell because she covered from head to toe in thick dark brown fur. Her hands, her feet, her arms, her body even her face, it was all covered. She snarled, rushing at the audience, only to be stopped by the chains around her wrist.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, Phoebe the dog-faced girl." The ringer leader announced, gesturing to Phoebe, "Half-feral and covered in fur."

"That poor girl." Hannah whispered over to Sam. Was that why this wayward brother of hers hadn't come back? Were they keeping him a prisoner too?

Sam squeezed her hand. "It's probably all part of the act."

As Phoebe continued to growl and rage, the ringleader leads them away, "Yes, when mother nature's goes wrong, she can make many monstrous creations. Or perhaps she makes something simple. Like a man who had never known pain."

The light shown on another stage, revealing a man covered in tattoos. Someone had stuck a series of balloons on the man's back which he flexed and showed the audience. The contortionist walked onto the stage holding several darts.

"Watch as our Renetta punctures all these balloons, hitting Gordo's skin in the process without him even flinching once!" The Ringleader dared, "Though, if you are squeamish, I must urge you, look away now."

Renetta began throwing darts, some hitting the balloons, some not. Still, they all hit Gordo, who, yes, wasn't acting like he felt a thing. The crowd gasped and winched, and in the end, clapped.

"Isn't he amazing folks?" The ringleader asked, "But hold, on, because there's more to come."

Indeed, there was more. The Winchester had to sit through a man who could escape from a straitjacket in three minutes and hammered spikes into his nostrils, a young woman who's pants were specially decide to accommodate her tail, a man who swallowed swords and conjoined twins who juggled knives and sang before finally getting to what they came for.

On the stage sat a medicine ball, a set of weights and car. A man in his early children, average height and build, lifted the medicine ball like lit was nothing, holding it over his head.

All the while he was glowing.

At least to Hannah who looked over to Sam and nodded. The pair tried slink out of the crowd as Samson went over to the weights.

Meanwhile, Serena Joy was driving Reason and the children back from the emergency toilet-paper run. "Again, I'm really, really sorry about this."

"No problem." Serena Joy assured, "I wasn't do anything and that was something that could turn into an issue _pretty_ quickly."

That was the car started slow, sputtering.

"No, no, no, no, no." Serena Joy changed, but the car came to a complete stop, smoke coming from the engine.

A few minutes later, Reason had half her body under the hood, trying to figure out what the problem was.

"Any luck?" Serena Joy asked.

"No." Reason admitted, pulling up and whipping her brow.

Just then there was yelp and Cas called out, "Maudie is poking me!"

"Am not!" Maudie shouted back.

"I, ah, think the natives might be getting a bit restless." Serena Joy commented.

Realizing where they were, Reason had an idea. "Hey, I can see that fair that's in town from here." She took her change purse and pulled out a twenty, "I'm not sure how much this will this you, but take it, buy some tickets, let 'em play a couple of the mid-way games, and I'll call you when this is done."

Serena Joy looked down at the cash that had been thrust into her hand. "Are you—going to be okay on your own?"

"I'll be fine." Reason insisted, "As long as they don't kill each other."

"Alright." Serena Joy agreed, still somewhat unsure about this plan, going to get the kids, "Alright guys, we're going on a little adventure."

Meanwhile, Samson had gone back to his trailer, when suddenly he heard the door opened. He whirled around and saw a woman he had never seen before. But he knew what she was.

"Are you alright, brother?" Hannah asked, rushing him, "Have they hurt you? How are they…."

"Calm down, sister." Samson cut her off, "Slow down. Why don't we start off with names? I'm Samson."

"Hannah." She answered.

"Hannah, what are you doing here?" Samson asked.

"I saw you in the paper." Hannah explained, "I thought you might be one of us. How—how are they keeping you here? I haven't seen any warding and clearly they're not restraining you in here—"

"I'm not being kept here against my will." Samson assured.

"But—when I saw that girl during the show, I thought—" Hannah fumbled for her words.

"What girl?" Samson asked, then it dawned on him, "Wait, are you talking about Phoebe? Oh, I made that mistake when I first came here, too. Those shackles are fake. She can get out of them at any time." He went over to the window. "See?"

Hannah peered out, to see Phoebe now in a pink blouse and jeans, walking down the row of trailers with Gordo, who picked a yellow wild flower from the grown and handed it to her.

"The chains were her ideas actually." Samson continued, "Not, the bikini, thought, she's trying to talk Kat into changing that."

"Kat?" Hannah repeated.

"Katerina, the ringleader." Samson explained.

Hannah was silent for a moment, looking at window, trying to gather her thoughts. "If you don't mind, I have a few more questions. "She turned to look at him, "How did you get here?"

"After the fall, I was lost, hurt." Samson began, "After a couple weeks of just wondering, I can across the camp they had set up. Dr. Blockhead was practicing his escape act and –there was an incident. The pole he was hanging from came lose and was about to fall over and I—I caught it. Everyone was more than little impressed than that." After a beat he continued, "By chance their last strongman quit and they needed a new one so Kat offered me the spot. I didn't even know what I was agreeing to but I said yes." After he a beat he asked, "And you?"

"That could take a minute." Hannah told him, "We need to talk."

Meanwhile, Serena Joy had three children on leashes walking down the midway, and it actually wasn't a complete disaster. They watched that game where you have guessed what tail the mouse is going stop on, she left the kids play the pick a duck game and they each actually managed to win, and they didn't try to get away from her.

They were walking when Serena Joy's phone rang. "That's probably Maudie's mom." She said, picking up, "Hey, Reason, so what did you find…"

By chance, Cas had noticed the knock down the milk can gamed. Fascinated, he walked closer to it Both distracted, neither he nor Serena Joy noticed that his harness had become unfastened from the adult's wrist until he turned around and discovered he was alone.

Panicked, the toddler called out, "Miss Serena! Miss Serena! Dean! Where are you?!" The little angel began to run through the crowd, heart pounding in his chest, his eyes watering up.

Meanwhile, Serena Joy hand just hung up with Reason and turned to her charges, "Okay, Maudie's moms got the car working again, so…" Her voice trailed off when realized she only had two children. "Where's Cas?!"

Cas was running through the path fat tears running down his face as he stumbled over Coat, who he was holding tightly too. The trench coat tripped him up and he fell to ground, attempts to stop himself only causing pain in his hands and knees as they hit gravel. He looked at his hands saw they were oozing blood, causing him to renew his tears.

Nearby in at the ice-cream stand were two dark-haired sisters dressed in a flowing blue dressed that were designed to accolated the fact that they were, quite literally, connected at the hip. One of them saw a small child, huddled on the ground in tears and shook her sister's shoulder to get her attention. "Joy, look." She said, pointing to the child. The pair exchanged looks then relinquished their place in line, walking over to the child. Leaning down, the first sister asked, "Are you alright sweetie?"

Cas looked up, hoping to see Serena Joy, only to find two women he didn't know staring down at his. He squirmed away, still crying.

"Hey, it's okay." The first sister soothed, "I'm Sorrow, and this is my sister, Joy. Do you have a name?"

"C…Castiel." The youngster sniffled, surprisingly enough pronouncing his name right.

"That's a nice name." Sorrow complimented, as Joy helped him to his feet, "Castiel, are you here by yourself? Where's your family?"

"I don't know." Cas whimpered, "I lost them." He looked around, hopping to see them, but to no avail, making him cry harder.

Sorrow took Cas into her arms, hugging him and wiping his tears away. "Ssh, ssh, clam down. We'll help you find them. We'll find someone from security and they'll let them know where you are."

"Actually, sis, maybe we should go back to the last place he saw them." Joy suggested, "They've probably figured out they're missing one right now and are heading back that way to get him."

"If we do that, who knows how long it'll take." Sorrow reasoned, "No, security's the safer the bet."

"If we can find them without being accused of kidnapping." Joy argued.

"Find, you go your way, I'll go mine!" Sorrow snapped, gesturing to their hip.

Joy let out a huff. "Fine, we'll try your –" However her voice trailed off as she stared, opened mouth at Cas.

"What?" Sorrow asked, then she looked at their foundling and saw it to.

The frantic running and falling and being picked up, plus the movement of his rescuers, had caused Cas' overshirt to start slide off, revealing a black-feathered wing.

Sorrow started to spill back the overshirt back further when Joy spat her hand whispering, "Are you crazy?! Not here." She picked up Coat from the ground, covering the wings while hissing, "Go! Go! Go!" And so, the pair began to run off somewhat awkwardly.

Back at the camp, Samson and Hannah were sitting on the floor of the trailer, Samson with his legs spread out, leaned up against the wall, Hannah crossed legged across from him. She had just finished telling him her story. Well, minus a few details.

"I won't make you go back with me." Hannah finished, "It would be hypocritical of me. You've made a life here, you have a family, I see that now. I'm sorry, I won't bother you again."

Hannah began to stand up, when Samson reached and grabbed her wrist. "Wait," He said, "I –I might not be opposed to going home, but I—I just don't know. Like you said, this is my family, too. I—I need some time to think. And there—there's something I need to do, first." After a beat he asked, "Did you see all of the show?"

When they stepped out, Sam stepped from where he had been waiting. "So, what are we doing?"

"Samson has something he needs to show us." Hannah answered.

"Hannah, who is this?" Samson asked.

At that point, the sword-swallower was chasing after Katerina, who had bucket in her hand and was trying to end whatever conversation they were having.

"Come on, Kat, think of it." The sword-swallower urged, "Live animals, dead animals, rocks, lightbulbs, cork screw, battery cables, circus peanuts! The crowd'll eat it up."

"Arron, if I want a human piranha act, I will find a geek who specializes in that." Katerina held her ground.

"Come on, how much different can it be than sliding sharp steal down my throat?" Arron reasoned.

"For starters, you have to keep it down." Katerina grumbled.

As they passed the angels and hunter Arron jumped to the front. "You two," He began pulling out a jar containing of all things, crickets, "Would you pay good money to see me eat these crickets?"

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks. "Maybe?" Sam replied, not wanting to be part of this. Whatever this was.

Arron decided demonstrate his talents by opening a jar and putting a handful of the poor creatures in his mouth, chewing and swallowing. "Oh, where are my manners," Arron teased, before holding out the jar, "Do you want some?"

"Arron!" Katerina snapped.

"Thank you." Hannah said politely, picking a cricket out of the jar. She put it in her mouth, then walked away.

Meanwhile, Cas was sat on the twins' vanity table, while they carefully examined his wings.

"Cassie, sweetie, have you always had these?" Sorrow asked.

"Sorrow, he's a boy." Joy spoke up.

"Yeah, so?" Sorrow asked.

"So, Cassie's a girl's name." Joy pointed out.

"Well, Castiel's kinda a mouthful to say all the time." Sorrow reasoned.

"Mommy and Daddy call me Cas a lot." Cas spoke up softly.

"Alright, that works." Sorrow replied, "Cas, have you always had wings?"

Cas nodded. "Mommy and Daddy make me cover them up because no one else has them." He looked down self-consciously then asked, "Am I in trouble?"

"What?" Sorrow responded, before understanding, "No, sweetie, no. We just—we just need to figure this out."

"It also means security's out." Joy added.

"What?" Sorrow asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because if they see that—" Joy began, pointing at Cas' wings, "They are going to call the g-o-v-e-r-e-n-t and they will c-u-t h-i-m u-p." Really, how was her sister not getting this?

Cas' eyes got wide.

"Okay, I think you spelling is just freaking him out even more." Sorrow told her.

That when Cas starting calling out, "Mommy! Mommy!"

"We'll find her, bud, don't worry." Joy tried to assure him.

"No, my Mommy's right there!" Cas explained, pointing out the window.

They looked where he was pointing and saw a woman they had never met before walking across the camp.

"Cas, are you sure that's you mother?" Joy asked.

"Uh-huh." Cas confirmed, nodding, "We halfta go to get her! We halfta—"

"Hold on, hold on, we're heading that way." Sorrow assured him, picking him up again as both sisters ran out the door.

As the Sam hurried to catch up with Hannah, leaving the sword-swallower and his crickets behind, while Samson discussed something with Katerina, they were stopped in their tracks by a familiar voice calling out, "Mommy! Daddy!"

They quickly turned to see a sobbing Cas being carried by the conjoined twins. There was a brief moment of panic and the couple prepared for a fight as they ran over in that direction. However, when they got there, there was no fight as their son reached out to latch onto his mother, who took him from the twins with no fight. "Are you alright? What are you doing here?"

"Miss Reason needed toilet paper and Miss Serena's car went boom." Cas answered, starting to calm down again since he was safely in his mother's arms. "I got lost." He raised up his skint-up little hands. "I hurt my hands."

"It's alright, little one." Hannah soothed, holding him closer to her, "You're safe now."

"We found the poor little guy sobbing his eyes out at the food court." Sorrow explained further, "We were going to take to security, but then, we saw—those." She gestured to the still-exposed wings.

"We realized we would probably need a new game plan, so we brought him back here." Joy finished.

"Thank you." Hannah breathed, "Thank you so much for finding him."

"Thank you." Sam repeated.

Just then a voice came over the loud speaker. "Would everyone be aware that we have a lost child. Castiel Winchester, age three, black hair, blue eyes. If anyone sees him, please contact the nearest fair security person."

Everybody exchanged looks.

"Should I go get someone to bring whoever's looking for this kid here?" Arron spoke up.

"Yeah, that'd be great, thanks." Sam told him, more concerned about Cas than anything else at that moment, covering up the tiny angel's wings with his jacket.

That was when Samson approached them. "So, this is what you meant when you said it would be hypocritical of you to force me to return."

Hannah tensed, clutching Cas closer to her and Sam's eyes went everywhere, trying to find the quickest escape route. "Can we talk about this later, please?" Hannah requested in an even voice.

"Yes." Samson replied, "You seem to have a lot going on at the moment."

When the girls arrived at the camp with the children, they were both slick with sweat and Reason was in tears. "Cas!" Dean shouted, trying to run to his brother, only to be stopped by the end of the leash.

Hannah reluctantly sat Cas down, who, now calmed down and feeling secure, ran to his brother and the pair embraced.

"So, you're a twin, too." Sorrow commented.

Cas nodded happily.

"Does he—" Joy asked, purposefully not finishing the sentence.

"No." Sam answered, "It's—it's a long story." Then he addressed the girls, "Speaking of which, all we can get from Cas was that Reason needed toilet paper and Serena Joy's car went boom. What happened? What were you guys doing here?"

"The kids had to go potty and I ran out of toilet paper." Reason got out, taking a deep breath in and out, "So I called Serena to ask for a ride. On the way back the car broke down, I was fixing it, but the kids got antsy, and we were nearby, so I suggest that Serena walk them down to keep them occupied, and I'd call when I had the car fixed."

"The she called and I guess Cas' leash must've come off my hand because I got off the phone and he wasn't there." Serena Joy explained, "We've been running around trying to find him ever since. Sam, Hannah I am so sorry. If anything had happened to him I—I—"

"He's safe now." Sam cut her off, not wanting to think about that possibility, "That's the important thing."

Serena Joy crouched down to where Cas was having a joyous reunion with his brother. "Castiel, I am so sorry." She began, "I took my eye off you and I should never have done that."

Seeing Serena Joy was upset, he looked up at her and said, "It's okay, Miss Serena. I forgive you."

Serena Joy smiled. "Anyone ever tell you how great a kid you are?"

Cas shook his head.

"What were you guys doing here?" Reason asked, now that the crisis was over. Or so she thought.

"Tracking down family." Hannah answered.

"Speaking of which," Samson spoke up, which caused her to turn around, "You said we could talk about it later. It's later."

Something inside Hannah knotted as she turned to the others. "Will you excuse us, please?"

Back in Samson's trailer, Hannah told him everything—well, almost everything.

"I knew I should have probably at least told Heaven, but when they were adults the boys—they made enemies, you know that." She finished, "I couldn't risk it."

"You just gave up and decided to live this face like with them and Sam Winchester?" Samson asked.

Hannah felt anger bubble up in her. "Our lives aren't fake." She protested indigently, "People adopt children all the time. Ours was just a little more—unconventional. Those are our children; Sam is there father and I'm their mother and that's all there is to it. It's no more fake then the life you've been living here at the show."

"Fair enough." Samson conceded, "Don't worry, Sister, your secret is safe with me. All of your secrets are."

"What does that mean?" Hannah asked.

Samson merely winked at her. "Now, back to what I had to show you…"

The group, being led by Samson _and_ Katerina lead them back into the house of oddities. "Keep your distance, please, she can be skittish or hostile around people she's not familiar sometimes, and I think the show stressed her today. "Looking over at Samson she added, "After this, I need you to get to the pool."

"Who's she?" Hannah asked.

Katerina lead then up the backsteps, then opened a door, staying, "Her."

Looking out the door they saw lying in a large copper-bottomed washtub filled to the brim with water, was a girl with long brown hair that looked to be about twelve at the most. The ones closer could make out gills. They could all see the webbing on her hands and of course, the giant fish blue-green fish tail sticking out of the tub.

"She got tangled up in the net of fishing trawler off the coast of Maine." Katerina explained, "The sailors actually put her up for auction on _eBay_ of all places."

" _eBay_ didn't notice children being trafficked on their sight?" Serena Joy question, a hint of anger in her voice.

Before things could go any further the mermaid turned her head to look at them, her eyes, which were already larger than a human though with noticeably smaller pupils, widened at the presence of the strangers. She reared back and let out a threatening hiss, revealing a mouth full of fangs.

"It's alright, _Liebchen_." Katerina assured her, gingerly approaching, like one would a frightened animal, a hand out in front of her, "These nice people are going to stay _right there._ They're not coming any closer."

"No more!" The mermaid protested, desperately, "No more!" Suddenly small white smooth balls started falling from her eyes and Sam remembered a legend her read while looking for something else, about mermaids crying pearls.

Katerina crouched down in front of the mermaid, holding out her arms. The mermaid latched on, burying her face into the ringleader's chest. "Ssh, ssh my love." Katerina soothed, "No more crowds for a while at least. It's alright, you're safe." She then just hummed rubbing circles on the creature's back until she claimed down. When they finally broke the embraced, Katerina leaned down saying, "Now, I brought you your favorite." Then she pulled out a small whole fish. She held it out above the mermaid, who reached and took it, devouring the thing head first. She then looked up expectantly, making a series of click and squeaks.

"What?" Katerina asked playfully, "You want more? You've had like a whole pack today already. Not all at once, but still." After a beat she changed her tune, pulling out another fish. "Alright, you piglet."

The mermaid took the fish, happily scarfing it down.

"She's well-treated here, but confinement's not good for her." Samson told Hannah, who was standing next to him, "Sometimes she gets so distressed she'll swim in circles in the pool until she wears herself out, or call out for her pack until she's horse. She'll accidently hurt herself. But she's not old enough to be on her own, I think and they don't seem to do well alone. I can't in good conscience go home until she's home." After a beat he added, "Plus, I'm the only who's actually strong enough to move her from the tub to the pool. She's heavier than she looks."

That was Cas started walking up the steps.

"Ah, bud, don't—" Sam began.

However, the young mermaid seemed to have a different reaction to Cas than she did the rest of the new comer, reaching out to him.

"She's usually okay with children." Katerina offered for an explanation.

Cas' tiny hand touched the very tips of the mermaid's webbed ones. "It'll be okays." He told her, "I was lost too, but then some nice ladies helped me find my Mommy. Maybe they can help you find yours, too." Then, taking the small plastic-blow-up well he had won at the duck game and reclaimed a few minutes before, handed it to the mermaid, who took it, looking at it with curiosity, making serval clicks.

Hannah glanced over to Sam.

"Well it looks like I have some research to do on mermaids and location spells." The hunter declared.


	54. Freaks And Geeks

Sam was at a table, surrounded by books, scrolling through a source on his lap top when Hannah walked in. "The boys are finally asleep." She told him walking closer, "So, anything here that can help Po?"

"Po?" Sam repeated.

"Our little mermaid friend's name." Hannah explained, "They've been calling her Thesis, after sea nymph, but that's her real name according to Samson."

"Okay," Sam responded, storing that information, "So get this. According to the Men of Letters documents mermaids, while they do have gills, eventually need to come up for air, but they can go for days, even weeks without coming up. After a few altercations with human they got smart and would only surface when in isolated places, certain that no one's around, which explains why Mermaid sightings have gone down instead of up, unless you believed that _Animal Planet_ hoax." After a beat he added, "I still can't believe there was an actual mermaids exist hashtag. Anyway, apparently when a female gives birth the offspring stays with their mother for the rest of that mother's natural life even into adulthood, sorta like orcas. Apparently, an injured adolescent was captured off the coast of Italy during the 1920s and taken one to the lab that the Italian Men of Letters had. She wasn't doing too well, so one of the men had the idea to bring his sister down and she held her, cuddled her, even stripped down so they had skin to skin contact, she recovered almost immediately, as long as they kept her stimulated, but not so much that they over stimulated her, all was well. Mostly. I mean, she never thrived, but she lived."

"Did they ever let her go?" Hannah asked, afraid of the answer, "Did she ever see her family again?"

"According to the records efforts were made to locate pack, but none could be found." Sam answered, "It was speculated that whatever had inured her, had slaughtered the pack, or caused them to flee the area. And the injury to her tail fin was so served that had the Men of Letters been inclined to release her back into the wild it's doubtful she would survive long before she was eaten or starved to death because she would be too slow to catch prey or escape predators."

"What eats a mermaid?" Hannah wondered aloud.

"Sharks apparently." Sam answered, "Larger squid. The more predatory whales, dolphins and seals. Speaking of which, apparently if they go far enough north polar bears will mistake them for seals. But mainly sharks."

"I can see what Samson meant by it not being good for them to be alone." Hannah commented, "Any luck on a location spell?"

"Yeah, ah, I found one that night work, but I'm going to need some sort of DNA sample." Sam answered, "Blood, or a piece of hair preferably with at least part of the root attached, even a scale in this case."

"That's going to an enjoyable experience to get." Hannah snarked, as she doubted Po would be very cooperative.

When Hannah went back to the House of Oddities, Po was outback in large above ground pool with clear slats in the material so that one could see below the water. She seemed in better spirits today, playing with the plastic whale Cas had gifted her, as well several small plastic fishes and balls that had been put in the water.

Hannah was just standing there, watching the Po play, when Samson walked up beside her. "She seems to love that thing." He told her, "The whale Castiel gave her, I mean. Barely stopped playing with it to eat or sleep." After a beat, he changed the subject, "Any news?"

"Sam has a spell that can track a person's nearest living relative." Hannah explained, "Which in this case, would presumably be a member of her pack. But it needs a piece of DNA to work."

"DNA?" Samson repeated.

"Some blood or hair." Hannah responded, "It's probably not going to be a pleasant experience for her, but it's the only way."

Fifteen minutes later Po was thrashing in the washtub, trying to get away from Sam and he tried to find somewhere to inject the needle.

"It's alright, my love." Katerina soothed, trying to hold Po down along with Samson, Hannah and Gordo. The young mermaid got in a punch at Katerina, sending her flying, then slapped Gordo with her tail, sending him flying across the room, as she screamed, "No!"

"Did I mention that mermaids' bones and issues are much denser and stronger than humans, as an adaption against the higher pressures in the deep ocean?" Sam asked, "Which makes them a lot stronger?"

"No," Hannah called out through gritted teeth, applying a bit more pressure, "You forgot to mention that." Then addressing Samson, she asked, "Can't you just—talk to her, explain what's happening?"

"We tried that, remember?" Samson reminded her.

"Not in her language!" Hannah pointed out.

"Too bad none of us actually speak it." Katerina lamented, rubbing her head as she got up.

As if on cue, Samson began making a series of clicks ,grunts and squeaks. As he spoke, Po calmed down, and she nodded her understaning.

"You can speak mermaid?" Sam asked in surprised.

"Yes, so can she." Samson informed him, pointing to Hannah, "We speak all the languages of the world. Including animals and monsters."

Managing to rise up, Gordo lamented, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"It didn't come up." Samson reasoned, letting go of Po.

As Gordo, Katerina and Samson began to argue, Sam found a vain and stuck the needle in. Po let out a whimper, and Katerina jumped on it, giving the mermaid her hand and letting her squeeze it to the point it almost broke. The syringe quickly filled with a reddish-brown liquid, and Sam removed it.

"Home?" Po asked pointing as the syringe.

"That's the hope anyway." Sam told her.

Two hours after that, Sam, Hannah, Samson and the boys where in the bunker, surrounding a table with serval ingredients that Sam was mixing in a bowel, including the blood. Setting the bowl on a map, he said, "Ah, you might want to get the kids back."

Hannah pulled the boys back as Sam began to read. " _Inveniet quod familia quod habet fuit perdita, inveniet quod familia qoud habet fuit perdita, inveniet quod familia quod habebet fuit perdita…."_

Suddenly the map caught fire, causing everyone but Sam to start to panic.

"Don't worry." Sam assured them, "It'll stop burning when it gets to where the pack is."

The map finally stopped burning at a spot off the Jersey shore. "This," Sam began picking it up, "Is there they'll be."

And so, the Winchester found themselves the lead in a caravan of trailers and cars, going down the hideaway towards the Jersey shore.

"I can't see her." Hannah said worriedly, peering out the window.

"That's because she's inside one of the trailers, in the tub, remember?" Sam reminded her, "The full pool doesn't travel well."

That was when Dean asked, "Daddy, what's a pool?"

"It's something, people will put water in that's bigger than a tub." Sam explained.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because if you can swim, it's fun." Sam answered, worried about the many different rabbit wholes this could send them down.

"What's swim?" Dean spoke up.

However, before Sam could try to explain it, Cas spoke up. "Daddy, why is Mommy sticking her head out the window?"

Sam glanced and saw that, yes, Hannah head was out of the widow and her upper body was heading in that direction. "What the—" He began, nearly cursing in front of the kids as he pulled her back in.

"What is going on up there?" Reason asked, watching as Hannah was pulled back in the car.

"I'm not even sure I want to know." Serena Joy admitted behind the wheel.

"Mommy, is the mermaid going to be okay?" Maudie asked in the back.

Reason turned to look at her. "Of course, baby. She's gonna be fine."

In the trailer behind them, Po was shifting back and forth in the tub in apprehension.

"Don't worry, my love." Katerina said, crouching down in front of her, "We'll be there soon."

"What if…what if…." Po began.

"What if what, _lichen_?" Katerina asked.

"Don't…want….me…" Po got out.

"Well, of course, they're going to want you." Katerina assured her, "I'm sure she misses you much."

"Angel?" Joy was saying in her and Sorrow's trailer, "Samson is an angel?"

"Well, if mermaids are real, why not angels?" Sorrow reasoned, "Keep your eyes on the road."

"I am." Joy assured her

Meanwhile, in the car behind, Gordo was nursing his head with an ice pack.

"Are you sure you don't need to see a doctor?" Phoebe asked, glancing over to him from where she was driving.

"If I was going to go into a coma, I would have gone into one by now." Gordo assured her.

In another trailer, Aron was lamenting the rejection of his human piranha act to his roommates, Renetta Dr. Blockhead.

"I mean, really how different can it be from expertly putting sharp metal down my throat?" Arron was saying.

"Aron, please, shut up." Dr. Blockhead pleaded.

Meanwhile, in a pale gray car all by herself, Lissie, the girl with the tail, was driving, singing along to Hunter Hayes. " _I hear love songs playing on the radio, people slow dancing everywhere I go. I'm a good slow dancer but you'd never know. Cause everybody got somebody but me…."_

At last they arrived at the beach, parking in a row that wasn't neat, but wasn't too chaotic. "Are you sure they're still here?" Hannah asked, as they got out of the car.

"I'll do the spell again while they're getting her ready." Sam said, getting out as well.

By the time they had Po lifted from the tub in a trap glued to a length of rope, Sam had completed the spell. "Alright," He began, walking over to where everyone was gathered, "They're still here."

"You hear, that Po?" Samson asked, "Still here."

Katerina leaned over and gave to Po a side-hug. "Goodbye ,my sweet girl."

"You be careful out there, kid." Dr. Blockhead told her, "Not everyone's as nice as us."

"Thank …you." Po got out. "Goodbye." Then picking up the whale, she handed it to Cas, making serval clicks and grunts. Cas took the whale into everyone surprise, made several clicks back.

"Cas, how do you know how to speak Mermaid?" Sam asked, slowly.

"I just do." Cas sensed, the after a beat asked, "Am I in trouble?"

"No," Hannah assured him, crouching down and hugging him, "You're just growing up." The language skills surely had to be some type of milestone, like when other toddlers learn to alternate feet or say word properly.

With that done Samson raised the tarp into the air, suspending it above the ocean then slowly lowering it down until Po could jump from it, which she did, happily.

All was silent for a moment then Aron spoke up. "How do we know it worked?"

Swimming further away from shore and deeper into the ocean, desperately searching for a sign of her pack. Then she heard something and swam towards it.

The pack, a group about a dozen male, female and child mermaids, swam in a tight group with the children in the certain surrounded by back hunters holding spears made of driftwood and sharped rocks they gathered on one of their trips to the surface. One female in particular with long string brown hair, hovered near the back of the pack a look of anguish that only revealed half of the pain she felt inside. Then she heard a sound that her perk her head up. Turning around her whole face changed at what they saw.

Po was flying towards the back in the open water. Suddenly her mother took off and met her daughter half-way, embracing her tiny pearls streaming from both their face.

On the surface, everyone was about to turn around and prepare to leave, when suddenly from what seemed like the middle of the ocean, two heads popped up. They were just closed enough to be recognized as Po and a woman who looked like her. Po waved at them.

"That's how we know." Katerina smiled.

The mermaids ducked their heads back in the water, swimming away. That was when the group saw two figures coming up the beach.

"I'm just saying, you know between-show snacks will ruin your appetite." A dark haired-girl, her body decorated with rune-like tattoos, holding some or of portable tertium was telling a man covered in jigsaw puzzle piece tattoos who was wearing nothing but a loin cloth and currently snacking on a raw fish. The man let a growl to which the young woman snapped, "Oh, lay off that, we both know you can talk." That was when they caught sight of the group on the beach. "Hey," She began awkwardly, "We crashing a party of something?"

That was when Sam noticed something. "Ah, is that a copper head in your tertium?"

"Yeah, I'm a snake charmer andTthe Perplexity here does a human Piranha act." The young woman explained, "We were part of a show that went up and down the coast. Unfortunately, some activities group got us shut down. So, now what are we gonna do? I mean, I could cover-up a bit and get a job at like a dime store or something, but what's he gonna do?" She gestured to The Perplexity.

Katerina smiled. "I have a few ideas." The waving the pair along with her hand said, "Come with me, we walk we talk."

"Well," Dr. Blockhead commented to Aron, "Looks like we're getting a human Piranha act, after all."

"Ah, shut up." Aron lamented.

When Katerina and the newcomers came back, Katerina announced, "Everyone I would like to introduce you to the newest members of our little band, Jennifer and The Perplexity . Jennifer, Perplexity this is the rest of the house of oddities."

"Hi, I'm Felicity." Lessie introduced herself, extending a hand for them to shake, "Well, most people call me Lessie.

Jennifer shook the offered hand and the Enigma took the hand and kissed it, to which Lessie laughed in a flirty tone.

As everyone introduced themselves, Katerina walked up to the Winchesters. "Thank you for your help?"

"Really?" Hannah asked, "I figured we wouldn't be your favorite people right not. We just cost you two acts."

"Thesis, or Po or whatever name was is better off in the ocean." Katerina reasoned, "And Samson agreed to stay till the end of the season, or at least until I can get some new adds done up. Plus, we got two new acts already to replace them." After a beat she added, "By the way if your little guy there," She pointed to Cas as Sam was putting him back into the car seat, "Still has wings when he grows up, tell him to give me a call. Pay's above minimum wage, just saying. "

"Plus, we can use all the acts that are actual freaks we can get." Joy said as she and her sister came over with Josh, "Twenty-first century genetic engineering will not only eradicate the Siamese twins and the dogfaced people, but you're going to be hard pressed to find, un, a slight overbite or a not-so-high cheekbone. "

"Oh, Joy, don't start." Sorrow pleaded.

"You see, I've seen the future and the future looks just like him." Joy continued in spite of her sister, pointing at Sam who looked up, wondering how the conversation had turned to him, "Imagine going through your whole life looking like that."

"So, what you're our physic now, too?" Sorrow quipped.

Several people smirked, and Katerina and Sam snickered. "Well, hopefully I'll see you in a few weeks." Hannah said, getting in to the passenger side of the car.

"You too." Sorrow agreed, waving.

And with that they drove off leaving the troupe to greet new friends and say goodbye to old.


	55. Independence Day

**AN: Okay, quick announcement. My life's a little hectic right now so I'm making some changes to how I update story. Mainly, I'll be updating over the entire weekend depending on what I got ready. This story will still update weekly, but it might be on Friday and Sunday instead of Saturday. I know it doesn't make a different to everyone, but I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on.**

Sam stepped back a little as the fire started to really blaze under the metal bars.

It was the fourth of July and the family was spending the day at the park with a borrowed grill, and Sam, as the only grown male of the group, as archaic as that might sound, got stuck with the dubious honor of grilling.

At that point Reason came over to him. "Ah, I know I'm no expert on the subject, but don't you think it's a little early to actually start up the grill?"

"Well, from what I read it take a little bit for the grill to actually heat up to actually cook." Sam explained, "Again, tell Saul we really owe him by the way."

"He really didn't mind; he apparently collects them." Reason told him, "You sure you don't want any help."

Sam made a rather awkward face. "Yeah, Reason, no offense, but…."

That raise Reason's hackles a bit. "But what?"

"You're from Missouri." Sam got out.

"And what does that have to do with anything?" Reason challenged.

"Well, no offense but Missouri barbecue is –it's not really even barbecue." Sam told he, "It's thinly sliced meat with a little sauce on it, on toast."

"It's—it's-" Reason stammered out, "How do you even know that?"

"Because I've been to Missouri and I've had their alleged barbecue." Sam answered.

"Alright, fair enough." Reason conceded, "Are we actually having anything barbecued?"

Sam paused a second. "Fair enough."

That was when Charlie came up with a bowel. "Where do you want me to put this?"

"On the picknick table should be fine." Sam told her, gesturing to the table.

Meanwhile, nearby in the same park Benedict Rawls was preparing his own grill when he saw Serena Joy's nova pull up.

"Hey." She called out to him, getting out holding a thing of Tupperware, waving with her free hand.

"Hey yourself!" Rawls called out and she walked up to the grill, "I thought you were heading to your parents."

"Doesn't mean I can't a least stop by." Serena Joy said, setting the Tupperware down on the side of the grill and giving Rawls a peck on the cheek. Pulling back, she saw the contained of sliced pink rounds next to grill and asked, "What is that?"

"Bologna." Rawls answered and when that earned him an even more confused look he responded, "What? You're telling you've never barbecued bologna? Okay, wait a few minutes, I am making you a sample to take with you."

As Rawls squirted barbecue into a bowl they heard a little voice call out, "Aunt Serena, Aunt Serena!" Then a whirl of auburn and black hit Serena Joy with a _thud._ Wrapped around her waist with a big grin, wearing a little straw hat, was Scarlet.

"Hey there Scarlet." Serena Joy greeted her, returning the hug, but giving Rawls a look as if to ask _Aunt Serena?_

"Scarlet, we've talked about this." Rawls told her, crouching down, "Just because Miss Serena's Uncle Benny's –ahh-friend doesn't make her your aunt yet."

"Oh." Scarlet said, sadly, looking down.

"But I still really appreciate the welcome." Serena Joy crouched down, changing the subject, "Now let me get a look at what this shirt says." As Scarlet pulled back Serena Joy read aloud, "I'm the reason we have rules?" It didn't make sense until she looked and saw Elsbeth, carrying Dory in spite of the pink harness with a cute little unicorn backpack she had on, Vanessa walking alongside her as she walked up. Vanessa was wearing a dark t-shirt that read, _I make the rules,_ and Dory was wearing one that read, _the rules don't apply to me._ "Oh. Cute."

"Mommy, Miss Serena's here!" Scarlet announced.

"I see that." Elsbeth responded, "It's good to see you again, Serena."

"You too." Serena Joy said, as Vanessa hugged her as well, making her feel a little guilty that she couldn't stay for long, "I was dropping some things off."

Rawls opened the container revealing slices of yellowish white pound cake and two sticks of butter.

"Spread it with a little butter and put it on the grill, it's delicious." Serena Joy told him.

That was when Scarlet, being five, said, "But we brought watermelon."

Dory began to whimper, nuzzle into her head into Elsbeth's chest. There was going to be fight. And Dory didn't like fighting.

"It's okay." Elsbeth soothed, "It's no big deal. No one's mad at anyone."

"I'm so sorry." Serena Joy began, "I didn't think."

"No, it's okay." Elsbeth assured her, " You didn't know. In fact—Dory, I have to put you down for a moment, okay." Dory didn't protest as she was sat down, Elsbeth slipping the pink leash handle around her wrist and she pulled her own Tupperware container and plastic bag, "Take some." She opened the conation, revealing pink and green watermelon slices, which she began to put into the bag, "We got a way too big one anyway, no way we're eating all this. Put some olive oil on it, and grill if for about two minutes, it's amazing. "

"I—I didn't know you could do that with water melon." Serena Joy admitted.

"Yeah, I didn't either until one of the girls at work gave us some." Elsbeth told her.

Looking at the water melon, she said, "I—I couldn't possibly—"

"Oh, I insist." Elsbeth responded, "Come on, make your boyfriend's life a little easier, give him a little less work to do."

Serena Joy smirked at her. "Well, when you put it like that." She took the offered watermelon.

"Can you at least come to the playground with us?" Scarlet requested.

"And on that note," Elsbeth quipped, "Benny, I was going to take the girls over to the playground to run off some energy for a little bit, you gonna be okay?"

"Sure." Rawls assured them. Elsbeth was a bit on edge and the girls had been cooped up since they got to town.

"Can Serena Joy come to?" Scarlet pleaded, "Please, please, please!"

Elsbeth looked for an answer as to whether she could confirm or deny the request.

"Well, I should probably at least make sure you don't get lost on the way." Serena Joy quipped walking off with the group.

Meanwhile, Hannah, Reason , Charlie and Alex had the same idea, and were walking the children over to the playground as they rand ahead of them "Maudie, slow down!" Reason requested, struggling to hold on, causing Alex to giggle.

Maudie obeyed and when they got to the playground, unfastening the children from their harnesses when they immediately ran to bucking animals.

The park had a bench on ever side of the playground area, and on the one adjacent from them saw an elderly woman with a prim face. It was on that bench that Elsbeth made the mistake of plopping Dory down to undo her harness so she could go play with her sisters. Because the moment she saw the leash she started in, harshly. "That is just shameful! That is just—just cruel to chain up a child right that! It—it's barbaric. I swear parents who use those things ought not to be allowed to have kids."

Getting upset, Dory started to cry. Elsbeth grabbed her up in her arms, whispering soothing words.

The woman either somehow unaware of the trouble she was causing or not caring, kept on. "Seriously, how lazy are you that you treat your daughter like a dog?! That's what you're doing you know; you're treating her like a dog! You should be ashamed!"

By that point Hannah, seeing the whole scene, rushed over. "Excuse me," She started, remaining very clam, "Are you of any relation to these people?"

That got the woman's attention. "Excuse me?"

"Are you a relative to this woman or this child?" Hannah restated, then realized she recognized the family being attacked.

"Well, are you?" The woman challenged.

"Actually, we are in fact acquaintances." Hannah told her very politely, "Hello Elsbeth."

"Hey." Elsbeth greeted her, still trying to calm Dory down.

"Yeah, so she has slightly more reason to be involved than you do." Serena Joy pointed out, grabbing the offending leash.

"And it's a unicorn, not a dog!" Scarlet informed her, hands on hip.

"The point is, unless she's beating them, how she manages her children is none of your business." Hannah took over again, "Furthermore are _you_ willing to run around to keep track of these kids? Make sure they get safely from place to place? Keep in mind she has three. Also, thankfully you missed us but me and my friend both had our children on leashes." She pointed over to the bench where Reason and the others were watching the kids, not wanting to cause too much of a scene, and yes, the leashes were sitting right next to them, "The only complaint I've heard from my kids was that their friend has a teddy bear on the back and they just have the plain ones." After a moment she thought to add, "Actually, Serena, weren't you the one who got that harness for her?"

Serena Joy nodded, "She looked at me like I had lost my mind, but when the kid got to walking, she became a convert."

Turning back to the woman, Hannah finished, "So, it seems you're actually in the minatory in addition to giving unsolicited opinions about things that are not your business _and_ making a toddler cry. So please, kindly _back off._ "

"I—you-," The woman stammered out, "Hmp!" The she turned around and hurried off so fast she actually breaking into a trout trying to get away.

That was when a little boy about the same age as Scarlet called out, "Grandma, where are you going?! Grandma!"

"Should we—" Charlie began, approaching the group.

"Give it a minute." Serena Joy said.

The little boy took off crying out, "Grandma! Don't leave me!"

At that point the woman turned around and turned beet red then blanched as she realized for all her criticism of other parents, she was the one that had actually nearly abandoned her charge. She abashedly walked over to pick a few toys the boy had left in his panic, then ran to her car with the child.

As they drove off, everything was silent for a moment, then the woman burst out laughing.

"Are you alright now, baby?" Elsbeth asked Dory, who had calmed down somewhat.

Dory, her face still slick with tears nodded.

That was when Elsbeth saw something that she knew would turn the child's day around. "You know, I think I saw Castiel on those animals over there." She said pointing him out.

Dory's eyes immediately lit up she saw him, wordlessly running off. It took a minute, but when Cas saw her, he got off, pulling Dory and her deer into a hug. "You want to ride with me?" He asked when they broke the embrace. Dory nodded and allowed him to help her onto the horse.

"Thanks for the rescue guys." Elsbeth said as they walked over to the other bench.

"It wasn't any trouble." Hannah assured her, "I've encountered a few people who somehow believe I've asked for their advice when I haven't said a word to them during my time as a mother."

"And it's never like the normal people or the people that are saying common sense things, is it?" replied, "It's always the APs, or the anti-vax or the ones who think putting your baby is a sling next to you is coddling."

"I thought AP and anti-vax were the same thing?" Serena Joy asked.

"Oh, AP is anti-vax _plus._ " Elsbeth told her, "And—trust me, that's all you want to know."

"Oh, I ran into one of those types in the store once and they thought I was doing it for some reason." Hannah added, "When I told I was more or less doing the opposite, it was not pretty."

"Wait, so stuff like that happens a lot?" Alex spoke up.

"Well, not to that degree, but yes." Hannah answered.

"It seems to be a rule as a parent everything you do is wrong and every busybody in the neighborhood knows better ways of raising your child." Elsbeth added.

"Well that seriously puts me off having kid." Charlie added in.

"And the worst for me, is that—I have some insecurities when it comes to my parenting abilities, so I always wonder if maybe I should be listening to them." Reason confessed.

"Pro tip," Elsbeth began, "If they mention the Illuminati or make reference to an unidentified 'they' just—tune them out and get away as fast as you can. Also, when someone asks me about my parenting philosophy, just to have some fun, I tell I follow the styles of truly awful people from history, like Anton LaVey, Aleister Crowley, Jim Jones, L Ron Hubbard, Warren Jeffs, even Marquis de Sade once. And that time they told me they would have to look at his Facebook page to find out more about him. And these were college educated people! My higher education was beauty school, how do I know about the guy we get the word sadism from and they don't?"

And so, they spent a good fifteen minutes discussing the unexpected parrels of motherhood.

"Okay guys." Serena Joy told the kids, "I really need to go now. I got half my family blowing up my phone here."

"Aw!" Scarlet wined.

"I know." Serena Joy responded, pulling her into a hug, "Hey, I promise to see you again while you're in town, okay?"

"Okay." Scarlet agreed reluctantly.

After that Vanessa came in for a hug, and even the boys and Maudie, did. However, Dory just stood there, looking almost scared. Serena Joy waved her in, but the little girl just hid behind Castiel.

"Don't worry." Scarlet assured Serena Joy, "She's like that with most people. When you're our aunt, she'll see you more and she won't be scared of you."

Serena Joy hid a flood of mixed emotions behind a smirk. "Glad you have so much faith in me, kiddo."

And so, all was well. The kids were playing the moms were talking and Elsbeth had an idea. "Hey, what are you guys doing for lunch?"

"Sam and a friend of ours are working on the grill." Hannah answered, "Why?"

"I was thinking maybe we could all get together." Elsbeth suggested, "You know, combine resources, share the same area. I mean, look at those guys. Does it seem like they're gonna want to split up?"

Indeed, Dean and Maudie were having the time of their lives with the older girls and Dory was not going to leave Cas easily.

Hannah smiled. "I'm sure something could be arranged."

Shortly after they came to that agreement, both meals were cooked, so the women helped their children pick up any toys they had brought with them and began bundle them up to go. Dory let out a whimper as the harness was put over her shoulder.

"Hey," Elsbeth began, concerned, "What's the matter, baby?"

"That mean lady said the hug was bad…." Dory began.

"That mean lady was wrong." Elsbeth told her gently but firmly, "While we have to listen to some people some of the time, there are sometimes it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. As you get older, you'll get better at telling which is which and now's one of the times it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Now, how do _you_ feel about your hug?"

Dory was quiet for a moment then said, "I love my hug."

"Then here we go." Elsbeth said, fastening the device, "How about a human hug too?" She wrapped her arms around the child, then pulled back and put the end around her wrist.

"Thanks Mama Elsbeth." Dory smiled up at her.

Hannah cocked her head in confusion. _Mama Elsbeth?_

"Not my idea." Elsbeth told them, sensing the confusion, "She just—started that one day and now I can't get her to stop. Well, I guess it's less weird than her just calling me by my first name…." Her voice trailed off as she realized, "You don't know, do you? Benny never said anything to you?"

"Said anything about what?" Hannah asked.

Looking at the kids then back to Hannah and Reason, Elsbeth whispered, "Not here. When they go gown for their nap, okay?"

Both Hannah and Reason nodded in an I understanding agreement.

The spread on the table consisted of hot dogs, hamburger, ribs, barbecued bologna, potato chips, baked beans, and cold slaw. It was so much certain people had trouble deciding.

Dean walked back to the paper platter with the burgers, and the bologna. He liked burgers, but the bologna looked good too. He couldn't decide!

"Can't I have both?" Dean asked.

"How 'bout you have one now and one for seconds?" Sam suggested.

"But I might not be hungry then." Dean worried.

"Okay, then how 'bout this?" Sam began cutting a hamburger and piece of bologna in half putting a piece each on the younger's plate.

"Okay." Dean grinned as they walked to the side.

When they all sat down, Dean very happily finished everything on his plate. No screaming to intimate the food. "Can I have some more of the bologna stuff, Daddy?"

"Sure, bud." Sam agreed, getting him one of the smaller pieces, "Just remember there's dessert, too."

Dean wasn't the only one who liked the barbecued bologna. Alex was practically ripping the stuff apart. "Seriously, where has this stuff been all my life?"

"Alex, sweetie, you got a little—" Jody began, handing her a napkin.

Alex took it, wrapping her mouth and telling the youngers, "Have better table manners than me."

Dessert was prepared after left overs were put up, a large amount of grilled pancake (As Serena Joy had also given Reason some) with the option of vanilla ice cream topping, and grilled watermelon.

"I didn't even know you could grill watermelon." Sam said as he turned his portion of pound cake over, "Then again I didn't know you could grill pound cake until today either."

"Yeah," Rawls agreed, "Here's hopping, we do it right."

The grilled pound cake cooked up a darker shade of yellow with dark brown stripes, and the watermelon cooked up rather unchanged except for looking a little dry with black marks from the grill. Both were delicious. And sure enough, right after lunch everyone under the age of five curled up for a nap.

Giving Elsbeth the chance to explain a few things.

"Dorian-Selene's the girls half-sister." Elsbeth explained, "Different mother, same father."

"He knocked up a washed-up pageant queen with some serious shades of _Sunset Boulevard."_ Edith commented.

"Edith!" Rawls exclaimed.

"What?" Edith responded, "It's not like we're all thinking it and as long as we're airing the dirty laundry—"

"The girls could've heard you said that." Elsbeth hissed.

"Dory's dead to the world and Scarlet and Nessa are absorbed in—throwing rocks—that they're not paying attention to what we're saying." Edith insisted.

"Anyway," Elsbeth said, deciding to just move on, "Like Edith just alluded to Lucky is not the most stable person in the world, and for now let's just leave it at that. A few months ago—actually just before we met you guys, actually, I get a call from her little sister saying that Lucky's been arrested for shoplifting and assault and battery, and destruction of property. Apparently, she tried to stuff a hundred-dollar prom dress in her purse, and then when the teenage chaser confronted her, threw a fit, eventually _biting_ the kid, kicked a mall cop in the shin, and knocked over a rack of jewelry and those chocolate displays they have on the counter. And Dory saw the whole thing." She rubbed her temples her heart breaking again at what the poor child must had gone through, "They had on a 48-hour psych eval, the cops had Dory down and the station and were trying to find relatives before calling CPS. Her grandmother was in the hospital, the sister that called me was with her and wasn't in a position to leave, they couldn't get a hold of the other sister, Dorian, my ex, his brother, the girls' father, was of course nowhere to be found, I was able to stall them until Benny could come up from here. We managed to talk Lucky and to signing custody over to me while she gets helps—" Elsbeth winced, "And possibly still serves some jail time. The judge agreed to it, even thought it was a little unconventional and now—and now we're here."

"Oh my—that poor child." Hannah gasped.

"I know it's not my place, but have you— "Sam began, wondering if some behavior they had put off as shyness was something more.

"We're looking at kiddie therapists." Elsbeth confirmed, "In the meantime, I'm just—doing everything I can to make sure she has it as normal as possible." She looked down where Dory was curled up next to Cas and started playing with a strand of her hair, "Believe it or I, ah, actually think your son helps. She just—comes to life around him. I don't—I don't know why, but thank God for him, really. I don't know if this is the most appropriate time for this but—we're going to be in town for a longer stay this time, weeks, months maybe, do you think maybe we could do like a more—planned play date or something."

"Of course." Hannah answered.

"Yeah, the boys would actually love that." Sam added. This was something they didn't need to discuss.

That afternoon after everybody woke up, Edith wound up treating the youngers to an impromptu concert.

The parents just wish she'd pick more appropriate songs for her audience.

" _Where she seemed alright by dawn's early light, thought she looked a little worried and weak…."_ Edith sang.

"She isn't." Rawls said.

"What's the problem?" Hannah asked.

" _She tried to pretend he wasn't drinking again, but Daddy left the proof on her cheek…."_ Edith continued.

"Oh." Hannah said slowly.

" _And I was only eight years old that summer, and I always seemed to be in the way. So, I took myself down to the fair in town, on Independence day."_ Edith did a little just instrumental than began singing again. _"Well word gets around in a small, small town. They said he was a dangerous man. But Mama was proud and she stood her ground, though she knew she was on the losing end. Some folks whispered; some folks talked but everybody looked the other way. When time ran out there was no one about, on independence day."_ She was about to start the refrain when she caught the disapproving looks of the adults, "What? I mean, it involves the holiday."

"Well, can't you do just a regular patriotic song or something? "Sam suggested, "Something a little—kid friendly?"

"Come on, it's not going to have any affect." Edith responded.

That when Dean spoke up. "How do you leave proof on a cheek?"

Both Hannah and Elsbeth shot Edith looks that said, _Do YOU want to explain the concept of domestic violence to them?_ Reason just faced palmed and Jody adjusted the collar of her shirt uncomfortably.

Edith sighed. "Okay, maybe you're right. I haven't exactly been the most kid-friendly today. Sorry."

Trying break up the tension, Elsbeth said, "Yeah, you're giving us red heads a bad name."

Edith smiled, then changed songs. " _Well if you ask me where I come, here's what I tell everyone…"_

Soon after that, it got dark enough that they began making preparations for the main event. That meant putting earplugs in the kids' ears.

"Okay, guys, when the fireworks go off, they can make a loud noise, and sometimes that can be scary." Sam explained taking the orange foam pellets out of their packaging, "So we're going to put these in your ears so they won't be as loud."

"Are you gonna wear them too, Daddy?" Dean asked.

"Well, bud, the noise doesn't really scare me." Sam told him.

"Then it won't scare me either." Dean declared.

"Can you put them on anyway?" Sam asked, "Just for me?"

Dean just folded his arms and shook his head.

"Alright, then." Sam responded, before sticking the plugs in his own ear, "What about now?"

"Okay." Dean agreed, sticking it in.

And so, sitting down on the blankets, they began to wait.

"Are the fireworks going to start now?" Maudie asked about thirty minutes in.

"Not yet." Reason told her, "They're just waiting it to be a bit darker."

Ten minutes after that Dean asked, "Is it time for the fireworks yet?"

"Not yet, bud." Sam responded.

"How 'bout now?" Cas asked a few minutes later.

"Not let little one." Hannah told him.

Sam told to Jody. "How long does this phase last?"

"Mama, its time for the fireworks yet?" Scarlet asked.

"Does that answer your question?" Jody responded.

Just then thankfully the first shot of a blue rocket flew up in the sky, sending sparkles through the sky. Then a green one. Then one with glittery pinks and greens and reds.

"Oohh, pretty!" Maudie grinned.

"There aren't scary!" Dean declared, "They'se pretty!"

"I'm glad you think so, bud." Sam responded, "What about you Cas?"

"They're sparkly." Cas observed.

That was when another firework went up a bright white one with even more sparkles within it. The kids really loved this one. It went for a good hour like that, spurts of fire and color raining down, ending with one giant cluster of fireworks in all colors. Red, white, blue, green, gold, seemingly every color.

Of course, by that point, the toddlers had fell asleep, Dean curled up in Sam's lap, Cas in Hannah's, Maudie in Reason's, Dory and Elsbeth.

"I'll get the stuff, you guys head to car with the little guys." Jody volunteered, Charlie and Alex helping her.

"Thanks." Sam said, getting up with Dean

The Winchesters, Reason and Elsbeth walked side by side with their asleep or half-asleep children. "We'll talk later?" Hannah asked Elsbeth.

"Defiantly." Elsbeth confirmed as she loaded her kids into the car, "You two Reason?"

"Of course." Reason agreed as she buckled Maudie into a crowded back seat.

By the time they got everyone loaded up, Sam and the others had had loaded up everything they brought with them. "You were right." Hannah told him as he got in the car, "This was a good idea."

"Thanks." Sam responded, starting the engine, "Hey, did I ever tell you about the fourth of July me and Dean burned down a field with fireworks?"

"No, actually." Hannah responded.

"Well, it was a little tricky for us to get them, but when we did…" Sam began as they drove off into the night.


	56. Loose Ends

It all started with a crying girl trying to wrangle children.

He was working on of the jobs the Lawsons had recommended him for, an all-women commune they knew from the farmer's market. He was helping with the summer harvest/planting and doing some maintenance It wasn't actually bad job. In spite of the commune being off the beaten path it was in close enough distance from the bunker that he was able to drive to the place an come back every night. (Albeit he had to get up really early in the morning and by the time he got back the boys were usually asleep.) Plus, the pay was pretty good, even part of it was in food. Although it was a little disconcerting how the young girls , a group of about ages three to ten, who had been born on the commune would follow him around in curiosity because he was the first man they had ever seen.

Which was the reason one of their teachers a girl of about nineteen who had her dark blonder hair tied back in a side-pony tail came over to collect the little ones who were watching Sam weed, however, she was on the edge of tears. Before she could even get a word out she started crying.

Immediately realizing something was wrong, Sam stood up from the weeding he was doing and walked over to her, his little entourage following. "Ah, maybe you should stay back here for a minute girl." He told them awkwardly. The girls reluctantly stayed put , older ones holding the younger ones back, and Sam gingerly approached the crying girl as not to startle her. "Hey," He began, "It's Sunflower, right?"

The girl, Sunflower, nodded.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Sam asked.

"I just got this letter from my Mom." Sunflower got out, holding out of piece of lined paper, "My sister's missing." She let Sam take the letter, continuing, "She just—didn't come back to her apartment Monday and now no one can find her."

"Do the police have any leads?" Sam asked, his instincts perking up.

Sunflower shook her head. "Not that they're looking very hard, they say Cassidy's an adult she can be missing if she wants to be. But—but that's not her. Cassidy—Cassidy was always the dependable one, she doesn't do stuff like that. Something-something bad had to happen."

Sam's instincts were fully kicked in now. "Sit down. Tell me everything."

This was how Sam wound up driving down the road to Lincoln Nebraska, Charlie in the shotgun seat trying to research the case.

"There is some—really weird stuff going on here Sam." Charlie declared just as they crossed the state line, "Like, something seriously isn't right here. I mean, aside from the obvious."

"Like what?" Sam asked.

"Like, did Sunflower mention that someone was killed in Cassidy's apartment complex?" Charlie asked.

"No, and the letter didn't say anything about that either." Sam said.

"Well, apparently the last night anybody saw Cassidy was the same night her neighbor Brent Herman was attacked by someone he described as a, and I quote, "teenybopper who could hit like a linebacker". In the middle of the assault Cassidy came over to see what was the matter and the kid turned on her. He thought they were both about to die when this other guy came out of nowhere, stabbed the girl, and took off with Cassidy. And that's not the weirdest thing."

"Okay, then, what is the weirdest thing?" Sam asked.

"The only thing the cops seemed to have done on this is file the incident report, and even that I had do some seriously hacking to find." Charlie explained, "It's like somebody's trying to bury this."

Suddenly a theory began to form in Sam's mind as parts of this were starting to seem familiar. But that still wouldn't explain who the man who had killed the attacker was, unless he was hunter or something. And if he was, then where was Cassidy? First, he needed some conformation on a few things. "Charlie, I need to try to find something for me…"

By the time they got Lincoln, Charlie was able to confirm Sam's worst fears. There had been murders in the area, men with their hands and feet cut off and a spider craved into their chest. And if Cassidy and her mysterious guardian hadn't intervened, Brent probably would've been numbered three.

"So, for right now we're skipping the police department." Sam told Hannah on the phone from the car when he called to check in, "Since they probably had a plant there. We're going to see if Brent can give us anything else and work from there. And before you ask, I _will_ be making a few calls because this is probably going to be more than a two-person job."

Hannah let out a sigh of relief. " _Please_ be careful. And _call me_ if anything happens or need even more back up."

"Don't worry, will do." Sam promised, "I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"You too." Hannah said, as the call was reluctantly ended by both parties.

"Everything okay on the home front?" Charlie asked as Sam joined her on the steps of the building.

"Yeah, she's just—I think she's worried." Sam answered.

"Well, we're chasing a group of murderous, misandrist super women who you've already pissed off, and we still don't know exactly how it connects to out missing girl." Charlie pointed out, "Can you blame her?"

"Not really." Sam admitted as they stepped into the elevator. It was a probably a good thing he was semi-retired, so Hannah would've lost her mind with worry by now. He probably would too.

Trying to change the subject, Charlie asked, "So, how are the boys?"

"Good." Sam answered, "They're good. They were taking a nap when I called, and I didn't want to wake them up."

"Plus, you knew you'd be on the phone for an hour talking to them." Charlie added.

"Yeah, yeah, that too." Sam admitted, "I mean I know we don't do this often, I could probably count with just my hand the number of actual hunts I've been on since the incident, but we do it enough you'd think it'd get easier at least for one of us, but it doesn't."

Before Charlie could respond the elevator opened up at their stop. They got out and went to Brent's door, knocking on it. A few seconds later it opened up and an average-sized man in his thirties with short brown hair and hazel eyes stuck his head out. "Look, I already have a religion and this isn't really the best time—"

"We're not Jehovah's Witnesses," Sam said as they took out their badges, "We're FBI. I'm agent Page this is agent Heinlein, we have a few questions to ask you about your home invasion last week and the disappearance of your neighbor, Cassidy Porter."

Brent looked back into his apartment, then back to the "agents" in front of him. "Not that I don't appreciate someone finally doing something about this, but how many agents do you need?" He still ushered them in and they could see that two people in business attire were sitting on a yellow couch, a man with short dirty blonde hair and a bit of stubble and a woman with circular face framed by shorter, sleek ink-black hair Sam had never seen either of them before.

"Hello agents—" Sam began.

"DiMaggio and Monroe," The man answered, "You're just in time agents—"

"Page and Heinlein." Sam answered.

"We were just about to start." "Agent Monroe" spoke up, before addressing Brent, "So tell us again what exactly happened?"

"I just minding my business, watching TV, when I get a knock on the door." Brent began, "I go to open it and it's some kid I've never seen before in my life and I start to ask her if she's lost of something the she kicks and sends me flying against the wall so hard there's cracks in it now," He pointed to the wall behind the couch, where, yes, there were noticeable cracks, "The thing is, this girl looked like she couldn't be a hundred pound soaking wet, I don't know if she was on PCP or something—PCP, that makes you stronger, right? Anyway, then she gets me pinned down and pulls out this freakin' dagger like something out of a fantasy movie and she goes to stab me with it and I scream, that's when Cassidy comes out of her place I guess, because next thing I know she's there and this nutso teenybopper's wailing on her and Cassidy starts screaming some like 'can' or 'Cam' or something—that's when the redneck guy nearly takes off my door—"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up," "Agent Monroe" cut him off, "What do you mean by redneck guy?"

"I don't mean to be prejudice or anything," Brent told them, "But this had this while bushy black beard and this long bushy black hair to go with the beard and he had this old-style coat, like the kind they were back during the civil war, you know? Then redneck guy pulls out a knife on his and starts stabbing the crazy girl until she's not breathing anymore, then he grabs Cassidy and runs out with her, so when I'm finally able to pull myself off the floor I call 911 only the cops don't do anything, at least nothing I know about." He stop a few moments to get a breath then said, "This is some kind of drug thing, right? It has to be. I mean, Cassidy's never seemed like that kind of person, but what else could that crap be other than drugs or a cult or something."

"Or something." Sam admitted, "Mr. Herman, did you see where the—ah-redneck guy took Cassidy?"

"No, I was half knocked out at the time." Brent confessed; a bit calmer now. Walking off he added, "But I think I have something else that might help. "He went to his bedroom saying, "See, before I got into the job I had now, I thought I was some sorta artist. Van Gogh I was not, but," He came back into the room holding serval pieces of paper, "I'm decent enough to give realistic renderings." He handed the drawing to Sam, the top was of an aggressive-looking man with rough beard, as looked through them, he saw a drawing who he assumed was their deceased Amazon, and the spider brand. "I, ah, don't think I'm going to forget what these freaks look like any time soon. "Seeing Sam looking at the brand he added, "Oh, I, um, almost forgot, physco teenybopper had that on her arm."

"Thanks these—these are actually pretty helpful." Sam told him.

"No problem." Brent replied, "Just let me know when I can move the Hell out of this place."

When they left, they all got into elevator in award silence. After moment of going downward "Agent DiMaggio" spoke. "Okay, are we going to tell each other our real names?"

"Yes, "Sam breathed, "I'm Sam Winchester, this is Charlie Bradbury."

"Clive Parker," The man introduced himself, "This is my girl, Bonnie Chau. Nice to meet you. Caught chatter on the police scanner about bodies being dropped without hands and feet and a spider drawn in their chest. You too?"

"Actually, I, ah, met Cassidy's sister recently." Sam explained, "She just got word she was missing, I told her I would look into it. I wasn't even sure it was anything supernatural until Charlie found the report."

Bonnie, however, had caught onto something else. "Hold up, hold up, did you just say 'Winchester'? As in the Winchester brothers, Sam and Dean, I think the names were?"

"Bonnie, is that really important right now?" Clive pointed out.

"But don't you remember?" Bonnie asked, "Last time we saw your brother Carrie Anne went on and one telling stories about these two brothers. Like, between them they died about five times and a bunch of stuff I'm not even gonna ask about because it'd probably be too traumatic for the man." Then address Sam added, "But for the record I think Clive's niece has the hugest crush on you guys."

"Time and place." Clive pointed out.

"Right." Bonnie admitted, "Sorry. So, do you have any idea because we have no clue and our people haven't got back to us, so they don't know."

"Yeah, actually." Sam answered, "I've, ah, seen this before."

And so, leaving out the part where he had to kill his own niece, Sam explained to them about the Amazons.

"Well, looks like Brent left something out." Clive commented, when Sam was about done.

"To be fair, he's been through a lot, probably didn't make the connection." Charlie reasoned.

"The adult Amazons will tend to insert themselves in positions of power. "Sam continued, "Have you been to the precinct investigating the murders? Were there any female officers that seemed—off to you?"

Bonnie almost immediately had an answer. "That catty bitch detective!"

"Ah, excuse me?" Sam responded.

"There's this one lady detective on the case, a _real_ piece of work." Bonnie explained, "Got put out when we asked for copies of evidence or any questions, treated—well, just about everyone like they were the scum under her shoes, condescending as all get out, just thinking about her makes me wanna—" She put her hands to her ears as if removing earrings.

"Bonnie, Bonnie calm down," Clive urged, putting an arm out in front of her, "She's not even here—and you don't have pierced ears."

"Oh." Bonnie responded, "Right. Sorry."

Clive put a hand to his forehead, saying, "I love you."

"So, "Sam began, trying to get everyone back on track, "I'm thinking we track down this—"

"Catty bitch detective." Bonnie insisted.

"Right. Her." Sam continued, "And tail her, and maybe that will lead us to the others and hopefully to Cassidy somehow. Any objections?"

"No." Clive answered, "Seems as good a plan as any. Bonnie?"

"I'm good with that." Bonnie agreed, "So long as I get to stab her when the time comes."

Meanwhile, back in Lebanon, after their nap, Hannah took the boys to the park. It seemed to be becoming their little ritual on those rare occasions when Sam went to help someone out on a hunt. Playing seemed to take their minds off missing them father and watching them play kept Hannah's mind off worrying.

However, on this particular day, there was a girl of about fourteen years of age with long light brown hair, dressed in cap-sleeved pink dress with a skirt that went to her knees, was skipping around the playground, singing, " _Comes little children, I'll take thee away into a land of enchantment. Come little children, the time's come to play, here in my garden of shadows…."_ Running past a little dark haired boy playing in the sand she accidently knocked over his little plastic bucket. "Hey!" He protested looking right at her as he gathered up the bucket.

Shocked, she turned around and walked back towards him. "You can see me?"

The child eyed her strangely but nodded.

"I'm sorry, we don't even know each other names." The girl apologized, "I'm Luna."

"I'm Castiel." He introduced himself.

"Well, Castiel," Luna began, "You're a very special little boy. Tell me, who are you here with?"

"Dean." Cas pointed to where Dean was building a sand castle a few feet away, "He my brother."

That was when Dean looked up and asked, "Who you talking to?"

"This is Luna." Cas answered, pointing to her.

"There's no one there." Dean told him.

"Yes, there is." Cas insisted.

"Nun-uh!" Dean argued.

"Uh-huh!" Cas argued back.

Unbeknownst to any of them, Hannah had seen the whole exchange. At first, she thought nothing or it, but then she, too noticed something off about the girl. She prepared to move quickly but held off on actually doing anything for a moment. Then Dean told Cas no one was there. That meant one of two things and since Hannah wasn't seeing any energy….

Hannah lept up and was at the sand box before her boys could even say another girl, scooping them both up in her arms. "Get away from them!" She shouted, attracting several stares, "It's not…it can't…."

"You know what I am don't you?" Luna asked, but already knowing the answer quickly assured her, "I'm not here for either of them. I'm not here for anyone. I just had a couple hours until—well, you know and I stopped to take a break."

"In a children's playground?" Hannah questioned.

"Look, I deal with a lot of—" Luna paused, trying to figure out how to put this delicately, "— let's just say _really_ unfortunate cases, hence the form, and sometimes it's just nice to see kids who aren't—"

"Oh, alright, I see now." Hannah responded, starting to calm down. This seemed legit to a certain extent.

"Mommy, who are you talking to?" Dean asked.

"Oh, right, sorry." Luna said, said, before suddenly making herself visible to everyone, "Better."

"I told you someone was there!" Cas explained in victory.

Suddenly Luna got bashful, putting her arms behind her back. "I understand if you want me to leave, but now that you know I'm not here for that…can I play with for a little bit before I have to go?"

"Huh?" Hannah responded, still processing what was happening.

"I'm a little old in this form, but it's, uh, a little too late to do anything about that now." Luna reasoned.

Hannah thought on this for a moment. This was weird, even by their standards, even she could see that. On the other hand, she had no reason to doubt Luna. "Alright." She relented, "But I'm watching you."

"Thanks." Luna said as Hannah sat the boys down. "Hey, bet you can't catch me." Then she ran off, singing as the boys followed her, " _Follow sweet children, I'll show thee the way. Through all the pain and the sorrows. Weep not poor children. For life is this way. Murdering beauty and passions…"_

That part was more than a little disconcerting.

Meanwhile, at a police station in Lincoln, a nicely dressed woman with long apricot-colored hair walked down the steps unaware she was being watched.

"That's her." Bonnie said from the car, pointing, "That's the catty bitch detective."

The detective got into a car and took off. Sam, who was at the wheel, drove after her, being careful to stay several feet away.

They drove for fifteen minutes through Lincoln before coming to an what looked like an abonded building. The detective parked her car by the sidewalk got out and walked to the back door, knocking on it. After a few seconds the door was opened by a dark-haired older woman, who urgently ushered her inside, shutting the door behind her.

"Any idea?" Charlie asked.

"We can't just bradge in." Clive spoke up, "We'd be flying in blind."

"Not exactly." Sam informed him, "Last time we encountered the Amazons, they were hold up keeping the girls they were breeding in a place like this."

"Hold up," Bonnie interjected, catching, "You mean there's _kids_ there?!"

"Monster kids, babe." Clive pointed out.

"They're still kids." Bonnie insisted, "Probably at least some of them haven't even killed anybody yet. Sam, what are the odds that all these girls have been through this—initiation nonsense?"

Put on the spot Sam stammered, "Well, uh, at last time they bred at a couple different times so there probably is a younger group that's still being indoctorated. They'd be about—five physically."

"Five. "Bonnie repeated, "Five. Show of hands, who doesn't really want to shoot a five-year-old today?" She raised her hand.

After a second Clive raised his head. "Alright, we'll leave the little kids alone."

Charlie and Sam raised their hands but Sam asked, "Then what do we do with them?"

"I don't know." Bonnie admitted intensely, "Maybe Clive's brother can open an orphanage. But we are _not_ killing them and that is final! "

After a beat, Clive explained, "Before she was hunter, she was a social worker. She's really protective of children."

There was a near simultaneous "ah" of understanding from both Sam and Charlie. "That makes sense." Charlie added to her.

While they had been having that discussion, a man bearded, dark haired man had approached building, stopping at the door.

"Um, guys," Charlie spoke up, "I think we found Cassidy's redneck."

Redneck guy backed up several feet and ran at the door, kicking it opened.

"We need to move." Sam declared, quickly getting out of the car, "Now."

Inside the building, the two women were set at an increate, dark iron table, having a conversation.

"Any luck finding the girl?" The dark-haired woman asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." The apricot-haired decteive admitted, "It's like she's vanished from the face of the Earth. And that might not be our only problem. The background checks on those two feds came back…."

Suddenly the interrupted by commotion outside, sticking their head out to find their best women in match with a man that looked suspiciously like the drawing the man Brent had given them. And he was actually holding his own.

Meanwhile, Luna and the children were playing when suddenly she froze. Crouching down so she the twins' height, she said, "I'm sorry guys, but I have to go."

"Aw." The boys complained as they were finally warming up to their new playmate.

"I'm sorry, but I'm late." Luna told them, "I should have already been in Lincoln."

That set off alarm bells for Hannah. "Who are you reaping in Lincoln?!" She demanded, grabbing the reaper by the arm, in a panic.

"Why do you…" Luna began.

That was when Dean innocently pipped up. "Our Daddy went to Lincoln. He had to help a lady."

A stricken look crossed Luna's face. "Oh." She said slowly the assured Hannah, "Don't worry. They're female, all of them. In fact, they're not even human so unless—"

"He's human." Hannah admitted.

"Then you should be good." Luna said before disappearing.

However, Hannah needed a bit more. He ripped her phone out of her jacket and hit Sam's speed dial.

Sam however, couldn't even hear his phone going off over the chaos in the room. They had run in and, having no other option at that point, joined redneck guy in fighting the Amazons, who seemed rather intent on killing them all. Swords were clanking, guns were firing. As redneck guy finally stabbed an Amazon, another was coming up behind him, dagger raised.

"Look out!" Sam shouted, firing at the woman, sending her down.

"Nice shot." Redneck guy complimented, stabbing an Amazon that came at him from the side.

Meanwhile, the apricot-haired detective had her service weapon out, firing. Suddenly Clive felt a sharp sting in his shoulder. He grabbed it, and realized he had been hit.

"Oh no you don't!" Bonnie shouted, grabbing a dagger from the ground and actually jumping on top of the detective. "This is for shooting my boyfriend," Bonnie began, stabbing her, "This is brain-washing a bunch of little kids." She stabbed again, "This is for the two guys you had killed!" She stabbed her again," And this—this is just because I don't like you!" Then she stabbed him one final, even though she had been for several stabs by that point.

Charlie was currently doing hand to hand combat with a rather comely Amazon who had managed to knock her gun out of her hands. "You know, if you weren't totally physco, you'd actually be pretty hot." Then she internally scolded herself, _Focus here, Bradberry, she's a cold blooded murderer._ Seeing a chance to get back her gun, Charlie dived and soon enough they were on the ground wrestling. The Amazon got her hands around Charlie throat, and the young huntress could feel her windpipe being crush when suddenly a shot went off.

"You okay, Charlie?" Sam asked, getting the body off her.

"Yeah." Charlie said, getting up and getting her gun just in time to shoot an Amazon, charging them, knife out.

However, redneck guy was racking up the biggest Amazon body count by far. He hacked and slashed, even grabbing the detective's gun and shooting. It even left the well-seasoned hunters more than a bit unsettled.

"Maureen!" The dark-haired Amazon who appeared to be a leader called out, "Get the girls, get them out of here!"

Maureen turned and bolted down the hall. "I'll go after her!" Bonnie called out, "You guys finish up here!" By that point they were about evenly matched so she figured they had a handle on things.

Redneck guy finished off the leader and took after Maureen and Bonnie. Maureen stopped in front of a door in the middle of the hallway and went to open it. Bonnie aimed her gun at her. "Stop."

Maureen turned around slowly. "I'm not letting you kill those girls."

"Who said anything about killing them?" Bonnie responded, "We're just getting them away from the likes of _you._ "

That was when Maureen called out, "Debra! Anne!" After a beat she added, "Actually, Angela, get out here too!"

The doored opened and out stepped two grown women and a teenage girl.

"It seems this hunter has a problem with how we raise our girls." Maureen told them, "Would you care to argue with her about that?"

The teenager, Angela presumably, marched towards Bonnie, who took several steps back. "Kid, don't make me do this." She pleaded, her gun leveled at her attacker, "Letting a child fight your battles for you?! Cowards!"

"She's passed her right." Maureen said coldly, "She can defend the tribe. She _must_."

Bonnie fired off a warning shoot. Angela keep coming. She then shot the girl in the shoulder, causing her to grab that shoulder in in shock and pain. Pushing the girl aside, Bonnie ordered, "Shut your eyes." She was about to fire when Redneck guy arrived. He grabbed one of the Amazon's by the throat, stabbing her while Bonnie shot the other two. Then she turned her attention to Angela. "Is there anyone else?" She asked, "Anyone?"

Angela stared at her definitely. "Bite me."

"Look, I get you think I'm the enemy now." Bonnie said, "But I'm not. This—what they made you do, it was _wrong_ it was—" Her voice trailed off as she realized that Redneck guy, who had not been part of their pact to spare the children, had gone into the room Angela and the others had come from. "Oh crap."

As Bonnie ran for the room, Angela ran off.

In the room, two groups of girls, five of them about five years of age, four of them the same age as Angela, huddled in the corner, two girls from the older group trying to comfort the younger ones, the other two in a defensive stance, all covering the little ones protectively. "Don't come any closer!" A brunette teen demanded.

"I'm not a sadist." Redneck guy told them, "Well, maybe a little. But please, just don't fight me and this will be quick."

That was when Bonnie burst through, running up to the girls and throwing herself in front of the girls, all the while exclaiming, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! We came to an agreement before we came in here, were _not_ going to hurt the girls."

Redneck guy actually looked surprised. "But…you're hunters, they're monsters. Isn't that what you do?"

"But they're also just kids, eight out of ten of which haven't done anything yet." Bonnie argued, then turned around to address the young Amazons, "Show of hand, who here _hasn't_ committed ritual patricide yet?"

All hands in the room went up except for the girl who had confronted Redneck guy.

"Ya see?!" Bonnie challenged, turning around.

Redneck guy almost looked flummoxed at what to do for a moment, then, leering the group said, "I'm really sorry about this."

Suddenly Bonnie was thrown across the room by an invisible force, hitting the wall hard.

Fortunately, by the then, the others showed up. "Bonnie!" Clive exchanged, running over to her and helping her up, "You okay?"

"I think so," Bonnie again, then pointed at redneck guy, "But he's—he's a demon! Or unusually corporeal ghost or something…"

At first Redneck guy try to deny it. "I don't know what she's talking about. No offense, but your friend clearly has some mental problem."

"Then why was she crumbled up against the wall?" Clive demanded.

"Something threw her across the room!" One of the younger Amazons spoke up.

"Emily, sssh!" An older one with heart-shaped face and chestnut hair scolded.

"But she was trying to help us!" Emily protested.

"That's right." Sam spoke up, "So if you can, why don't you just come over, here, behind me?" He hoped that maybe he could shield the children from the demon's wrath.

Emily made a break for it and the demon went for, but Clive and Charlie pulled out their holy water at the same time and splashed him, causing some burning, but less than it should of. Either way it gave Emily enough time to get over to Sam.

"It's going to be alright sweetie." Sam assured her, "We're going to get you out of here."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." The demon warned, "I don't want to kill anything that doesn't have it coming, but if you don't let me stop this blight, I swear I will cut you down."

Sam responded by starting an exorcism, " _Excorcsizmous te omnis…"_ However, Sam was then cut off by his airway being constricted by an invisible force.

"No!" Charlie shouted.

"It wouldn't have worked on me anyway." The demon commented.

That gave Charlie an idea of how to stall. As long as they were talking, they were alive "Why, huh?! Why wouldn't it work? Come on, you're going to kill us anyway, might well, explain that before we go!"

The demon paused a minute, thinking it over. At last he asked, "Does the term Knight of Hell mean anything to you?"

It clicked for Sam. Struggling for breath, he managed to rasp out, "Cain?"

That made Cain release Sam from his hold. "How do you know that?"

"I'm Sam Winchester." Sam explained, "Dean Winchester's brother. We—we should talk."

And so, with something of a ceasefire called, Sam and Cain sat down to talk. Unfortunately, he refused to open the dormitory door, trapping everyone in there with them.

"Tell me, how's Dean?" Cain asked, "I hear he did good, too Abaddon down. "After a beat he asked, "Is that him calling now?"

That was the first time Sam realized that his phone was ringing. "Probably not. But I think I need to take this." Who knew how long it had been going off? Plus, maybe he could sneak out an S. O. S to get her to send help.

"Is now _really_ a good time?" Bonnie questioned.

"To be fair, it's not like we can go anywhere right now." Clive pointed out.

Sam picked off the phone. "Hey, Hannah."

"Sam, thank God!" Hannah explained, her voice on the edge of tears, "I've been trying to get a hold of you for fifteen minutes. I was beginning to think—"

"Hannah, Hannah, clam down." Sam told her, "I'm fine, Charlie's fine, everyone's—fine. Things just hit a couple snags and I didn't hear the phone, I'm sorry. Turns out Lincoln's a real—funky town." It wasn't the exact code for this situation, but hopefully enough for Hannah to get the message.

Hannah froze a moment. _Stay calm._ "I see. So, um, you make any new friends there?" (Translation: Can you speak freely?)

"One." Sam answered, "Listen, babe, can you pick something up for me?" (Translation: Not really. Send help.)

"Sure." Hannah answered, "What do you need?" (Translation—How many should I send?)

"Well, I've needed some supplies for the commune." Sam told her, trying to make this conversation seem as natural as possible, "The entire _Home Depot,_ if you can get it. No hammers, though." (Translation: Everyone in my contacts. Don't come yourself.)

"You sure you don't need hammers?" Hannah asked. (Translation—I'm not leaving you out there.)

Since she just up with that one in that moment, it took Sam a minute to realize what she meant. "No, I really don't need hammers. Tell the boys I love them." (Translation—Please don't fight with me on this, think of the boys.)

"Alright." Hannah gave in, "So, how many numbers did you get?" (Translation—How many bad guys?)

"Just one, believe it or not. "Sam answered. (Translation—One.)

"Can you please wrap this up?" Cain spoke up.

"Honey, I'm sorry, I gotta go, we still have a few things to clear up here." Sam told her, "Love you." (Translation. He wants me to hang up, can't stall. Love you.)

"I love you too." Hannah replied, hopping it wasn't the last time they said it to each other before Sam got off the phone.

"Well, that probably wasn't Dean." Cain guessed, "Unless you two are more open about your feelings than I assumed you would be. And what was with that errand list?"

"I was tricking her into thinking everything was okay." Sam lied, "Didn't want her to worry. So, now back you. I thought Dean said you were on the murder wagon?"

"What can I say?" Cain responded, "I got the taste back. With Abaddon's army gunning for I had to take up arms again, and I liked how that felt."

That didn't sound good. "Where's Cassidy?" Sam demanded, "What did you do her?"

"You needn't worry about her." Cain told him, "She's the one person I would never harm." After a beat, Cain asked, "Did Dean tell you about my wife?"

"He said she was the reason you stopped killing." Sam confirmed, "But the Knights of Hell killed her."

Cain nodded sadly in conformation. "But she had a sister. A sister who got married and had children. Who also had children, who in turn had children of their own…"

Suddenly Sam started to get the picture, "Are you saying Cassidy's is your wife's, like—great-great grandniece?"

"I came across her completely by chance over a year ago." Cain explained, "Protecting her kept me from fully giving into my bloodlust. After the Amazon attack, I figured they'd seek reattribution and try to silence the witnesses, so I sashed her somewhere safe until I could deal with the treat."

"And she—just went along with this plan?" Charlie questioned.

That was when Sam remembered something Brent said. "She called for you. During the attack. Didn't she?"

"She was mugged about two months ago." Cain explained, "She found out about me then. She was scared at first, when I explained everything, but then oddly, she was okay with it."

"You know, she scared a lot of people, disappearing like that." Sam informed him, "Her sister's distraunt."

"I am sorry about that." Cain admitted, "She talks about Sunny a lot. They're best friends. Cassidy will be able to ease her worry—" He turned his gaze to the Amazon girls, "As soon as I finish here."

Bonnie once again stepped in front of the girls this time Charlie joining her.

Sam reached out and graved Cain's sleeve. "Cain, they're not a threat to Cassidy. Look, we just pretty much decimated the tribe. I think it's safe to say they're not coming after her."

"Then what exactly do you intend to do with them?" Cain challenged.

"Well, Cassidy's sister lives on an all-female compound in the middle of nowhere." Sam reminded him, "They can't kill any men if there's none around to kill."

The other hunters exchanged looks. "That could actually work." Clive declared.

Cain however, seemed unmoved by their suggestion.

That was when some cleared their throat. "Perhaps I could offer a persuasive argument?" A new voice questioned.

Suddenly a young girl dressed in pink appeared out of nowhere. "Hi." She greeted them, "My name's Luna, I'm a reaper. I came here to gather the souls of the Amazons, but not _these_ Amazons. It is not yet their time."

Suddenly the door flung open.

"Go, go, go! "Clive exchanged, as he and the huntresses ushered the girls out of the room.

"And now, you are going to help my new friend's Dad with whatever else he needs, or I am going to get my boss involved." Luna threatened sweetly, "And neither us of wants that." Especially since she didn't know if she could actually pull that off.

"And you're sure you're alright?" Hannah asked, back on the phone.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sam insisted, "Charlie, Bonnie and Clive are waiting for me with the girls, and there's this reaper in the back seat watching Cain like a hawk."

"Let me guess, her name's Luna." Hannah speculated.

"Hi, Hannah!" Luna called out from the back, as the call was on speaker, "I heard him talking to you on the phone and put two and two together. How are the boys?"

"Fine, thanks." Hannah replied, " I made sure they didn't know what was going on. And thank you for getting Sam out of that mess."

"No problem." Luna told her, "Tell the boys I said hi."

"I will." Hannah said gratefully, before hanging up.

By then they arrived at an abandoned hotel at the edge of the city. They got out and Cain lead them in. "Cassidy!" He called out, "Cassidy I'm here!"

A young woman with long broom-color hair that matched her sister's stepped out. "Cain, who are they?"

"This is Sam Winchester." Cain introduced, "He told your sister he'd find you."

"Is Sunny okay?" Cassidy asked.

"She'll be great when she sees you." Sam assured her.

They wound up in a crowded, three- car convoy, Sam, Charlie, Cain, Cassidy and Luna in the Impala, Bonnie and all the girls they could stuff into an emergency rent-a-car behind him, and Clive and the remaining girls that couldn't be squeezed in the middle car in the couple's jeep in the back.

Cassidy was resting her head on Cain's shoulder, but she could sense her knight pondering something. "Cain, what's wrong?"

"I—I nearly slaughtered children tonight." Cain confessed, "Nine girls. They were monsters, Amazons, but still. And I nearly killed the hunters who defended them, the ones who came to save you. I'm starting to worry about how longer I can hang on. How long before I do something truly horrid again." After a beat he declared, "I think it's time to have Dean uphold his end of the bargain."

Sam's heart jumped into his throat.

"Cain…" Cassidy began.

"Ah, Sam," Charlie spoke up, "I think you might need to tell him."

"Tell me what?" Cain asked.

"Ah, that's not really an option anymore." Sam confessed, "The Mark is…gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Cain demanded, "How can it just be gone?"

"Well, we found this witch and she sorta…accidently deaged Dean into a toddler while trying to remove the Mark, and since it actually _did_ remove the mark in the process… we left him that way." He winched, waiting for the worst.

Shocked, Cain deadpanned. "I truly did not anticipate this."

That was when Luna spoke. "I have an idea. I know this rouge reaper who owes me a favor and truly hates the current ruler of Hell. He killed a friend of his a couple years ago. He could smuggler you into Hell and you can kill demons to your heart's content and bring you back anytime you wanted to check on Cassidy here."

Cain and Cassidy exchanged looks. "I believe I'll take you up on that offer." The last Knight of Hell declared, not taking his eyes off Cassidy.

Later after parking on the side of the road, Sam lead the rag-tag group off an unbeaten trial. Eventually he put his arm out in front of him, "This is as far as we go for now." Then he called out, seemingly to the woods itself, "But who really saw the resurrection? A hysterical woman."

"What the heck is happening?" Clive wondered.

"He's quoting Porphyry's argument against the resurrection of Christ." Cain whispered to him.

"Okay, but _why_ is he quoting really sexist roman philosophers?" Clive whispered back.

Suddenly, a group of about ten women dressed in qusi-military garb came out of the trees, holding weapon. "Samuel." The leader, a young woman with short dark brown hair, "Who are your friends."

"This is Sunflower's sister, Cassidy." Sam introduced, " This is Cassidy's friend, Cain, and these are my friends Charlie, Clive and Bonnie. And this Sarah, Emily, Oliva, Nichole, Charlotte, Hollie, Lydia, Amy, Charlene, and Emma, and they need sanctuary."

In the commune proper, Sunflower was setting under a butternut tree, reading to the younger children. Suddenly they looked up and took off, calling out Sam's name. Looking up she found a strange assortment of people being lead by members of the commune's defense unit, one of them her sister.

"Cassidy!" Sunflower shrieked running towards her sister who wrapped her in an embrace. "Thank you Sam! Thank you so much!"

"It's my pleasure?" Sam smiled.

"Ah, hate to break this up, but you're going to need to talk to the _Patrona_ about these kids here.

That was how Sam and the remaining Amazons wound up in an office paneled with 1970s-wood paneling, across from an army surplus desk, where an older woman, streaks of gray in her raven-back hair, with was pulled back and covered with a green bandana, lines on her nut-brown skin, sat, pondering the tale they had just told.

"That's quiet a story, Samuel." The _Patrona,_ as the leader of the commune liked to be called, said finally, "I might think you were completely insane except the little ones doubled in age in the time's we've spent talking."

Sam looks to see that in fact, the younger girls, who had been about seven when they arrived, were not about nine or ten.

"Can we stay here?" Emily spoke up.

That _Patrona_ smiled down at her. "Of course Emily. Many a women have sought us out because society needed protection from them, rather than they needed protection from society." Standing up, she said, "I can take it from here, Samuel."

Meanwhile, in her sister's cabin, Cassidy had just finished explaining everything that had happened to Sunflower.

"So our family has a guardian…demon?" Sunflower summarized, "This is a thing?"

"Well, for us it is, apparently." Cassidy replied, "Good thing he was there, though."

Sunflower nodded in agreement before looking at Cain. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Just then there was knock on the door and Luna stuck her head in. "Sorry, it's time."

Cassidy and Cain looked at each other. "So I guess this goodbye for a while."

"Just for a while." Cain promised, leaning in and kissing her on the forehead before leaning back and walking to Luna.

After Sam saw Luna and Cain off, he and Charlie went to check on Bonnie and Clive, the latter of which was currently surrounded by the commune's little ones, who were peppering him with questions.

"Why do you have hair on your face?" A auburn-haired six year old named Storm asked.

"Why are you littlier than Sam?" A three year old named Octavia pipped up with wide blue eyes. At least Sam thought it was Octavia because she was set of identical triplets, the other two named Ophelia and Olympia. They were the commune's youngest members.

"Are you a migget?" A chubby-cheeked five year old named Anything added.

"No, I'm just—normal height." Clive told them, "Oh, look, there's Sam. Sam, please help me."

The gaggled hurried over to Sam. "Hey, guys, um, can I talk to Bonnie and Clive here for a moment."

"Aw!" The children lamented.

That was when Charlie got an idea of how to distract them. "Who wants to see post cards?"

There was chorus of "Me! Me! I do!" As Charlie led them away.

"They're a real—curious bunch, aren't they?" Clive commented.

"You can say that again." Sam responded, "So, what's next for you?"

"Well, first we're going to head back to Lincoln." Clive answered, "Make sure they're aren't more Amazons out there. Find Angela, the one that ran off."

"You need any help with that?" Sam offered.

"No, we're good." Clive assured him, "We'll call if that changes. Besides, you probably should give that woman and kids of yours some peace of mine."

Sam smiled. "That I can do." In fact, all he wanted to do at that moment was kiss his wife, hug his kids, and then sleep for a month.

Unforcantely when he and Charlie got back to the bunker, what they were met with was Hannah standing outside the door yelling at short man in a black suit.

"Oh God," Sam breathed, getting out the car and marching up to see, "Hannah, you okay?"

"Except for the king of Hell on our doorstep!" Hannah replied.

"Yeah, I see that." Sam responded, then turned to the aforementioned king, "Crowley, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here because I've been getting reports all afternoon of Cain trasping around Hell, spiking anything with black eyes." Crowley explained, rather agitated, "So I figured, 'I bet I know who had something to do with that and I bet they're not getting any money off the gun that bears their name'. So, I come up here only to get Feather's girlfriend mouthing off and refusing to let me in. So, Moose, care to explain how Cain got into Hell?"

"That would be my doing." A by now familiar voice declared. Crowley turned and saw to his surprise, a young girl smiling at him.

"Who are you now?" Crowley asked.

"This is Luna." Sam introduced him, "She's a reaper."

"A bitty girl reaper?" Crowley asked, to which Sam just shrugged. "Well, bitty girl reaper, would care to explain to me why you sent Cain to Hell?"

"Because it was the only way to stop him from killing innocents." Luna answered matter of fatly.

"Well, luckily we have a way to fix that because there's someone here, you are the only one who can bloody kill Cain!" Crowley exclaimed, then whirled around on Sam, "Where's your brother? We're putting an end to this once and for all."

As if on cue, a little voice called from inside the bunker. "Mommy, what's all that noise?"

"Nothing, sweetie." Hannah called back, a pit in her stomach, "Just, go back and play, Mommy will be in, in a minute."

Crowley looked Hannah up and down, processing what he just heard. "You reproduced? I'm sorry, but shouldn't you be dead?" The he walked back her and tried to open the door. Hannah was able to push him back, but not before he got sight of a somewhat familiar three-year-old. "That's Dean. But he's a toddler. Dean Winchester's a toddler. When the bloody Hell did that happen?! And, where was I?!"

"Crowley," Sam began, trying to defuse the situation, "You need to calm down."

"Clam down?" Crowley repeated, "Calm down?! Cain's running amuck in Hell, there's bitty girl reapers, Squirrel's bloody toddler, and I don't even know what's she's doing here—" He pointed at Hannah, "Up is down, black is white, don't you bloody tell me to calm down!"

That was when a voice that held a little more authority said, "Calm down Crowley."

Everyone turned to see Death standing there, oddly enough, with Angela, the teen Amazon that had got away beside him.

"Well," Crowley began, swallowing thickly, "I'm just going to—check on Hell." Then with that he was gone, leaving a very tense scene in his wake.

"Sam, who is this?" Hannah asked, not sure why she was so afraid.

"This is—this is Death." Sam stammered out.

"Hello, Sam." Death greeted him, "We need to talk about your brother-son."

That was how they wound up sitting across from Death and the Amazon teen at their kitchen table while Charlie and Luna kept the boys distracted, thought now both parents were wondering if they had made a mistake by trusting her.

As if reading their mind, Death said, "She didn't intend to tell me about you. I just—caught her by chance smuggling Cain down to Hell and one thing lead to another. Now, if you want to set up house with your now younger siblings I could care less, especially since Dean and his angel are flying less in the face of the natural order this way than they did as adults ironically enough. However, there is the matter of the Mark to deal with. You see, it's not gone, just dormant."

"Why do you think that?" Sam asked.

"Because we're all still alive." Death answered, "You see, before there was light, before there was God and the archangels, there wasn't nothing, there was the Darkness."

"That's just an old story." Hannah protested.

"Wait, you know what he's talking about?" Sam questioned.

"It's sort of like an angelic/ demonic boggy man." Hannah told him, "But it's—" She looked over at Death, "It's not real."

"Unfortunately, it is." Death insisted, "But God locked the Darkness away where it could do no harm, and He created a Mark that would be both lock and key, which was entrusted to his most valuable lieutenant, Lucifer. But the Mark began to assert its own will, revealed itself as a curse and began to corrupt. Lucifer became jealous of Man, God banished Lucifer to Hell, Lucifer passed the Mark to Cain. Who passed the Mark to Dean, the proverbial finger in the dyke. Now, considering it has apparently been some time since the incident that got him in this state, not sure how I missed that by the way, and we're not up to out eyes in unspeakable horror, it can only leave me to believe…"

"It means the mark still exist." Sam finished, a bit forming in his stomach.

"Exactly." Death said, "But I have a solution that I believe will make every satisfied. You remember Angela, here, I assume. Earlier this evening while searching for the remaining Amazons, her doubts got the better of her and she had a nervous breakdown. It happens sometimes, the Amazons usually take the girls out back—thin the heard as it were, when that happens. Now she's wants to do penitence for killing her father."

Realizing what Death was getting it, Sam declared, "No." He would not wish what Dean had went through on anyone.

Hannah however was a bit more open. "Sam, maybe we should."

"Hannah, you saw, what that thing did to Dean." Sam argued, "Do you really want to put her through that?"

"No, but I don't want Dean to go through it again either." Hannah countered, "And it has to go somewhere. You haven't heard the stories about this thing. _I_ have."

"Then I'll do it." Sam volunteered.

Everyone went silent for a moment. "Sam, no." Hannah declared finally.

"Well, like you said, someone's gotta do it." Sam reasoned, "I've killed before, so that puts me in the running, and I have something to hold on for, and if that doesn't work—well, we have a dungeon."

"I'll do it." Hannah declared, "I've probably killed before and don't even know it. And even if I haven't, I've done things that's called people to be killed, that's got to count."

"I'm afraid it doesn't." Death told her, "While you are both very noble, id you ever consider asking _Angela_ what she wants?"

They both looked to the girl. "You know what this will do to you?" Sam asked, " Has anyone explained.?"

Angela nodded. "I will become like the man you saved us from. But it's not as bad as you think. Death's got a plan."

Both parents looked at Death again.

"I'm going to take her far away, off the planet in fact." Death explained, "Where she won't be able to hurt anyone."

"Solitary confident?" Sam responded, " _That's_ your solution?"

"It's not as bad as you're making it sound." Death countered, "She'll have visitors, I'll be checking in, so will Luna, and few other reapers I trust, and she can see her tribe mates from time to time."

"I know what I'm getting into." Angela insisted, "This—this is what I want."

Sam rubbed his face wearily. "I still—I still hate everything about this."

"Nevertheless, it is going to happen." Death said, "So I suggest you keep your son clam now for this next part."

Seeing no other choice, the parents got up to get their son.

When they brought a somewhat confused Dean back in, Hannah carrying him, he smiled at the new people. "Hi." He said waving.

"Hello." Death greeted the lad, almost warmly, as his parents set down with him in his mother's lap, "You must be Dean. It's very nice to meet you. This is my friend, Angela."

"What about your name?" Dean asked.

"That's not important right now." Death told him, "But I guess you could just say I'm Luna's boss."

"Luna's got a job?" Dean asked, "I thought she'd be too little."

"Maybe a little bit." Death told him, "But she's good at what she does."

"Does Angela have a job too?" Dean asked.

"Actually yes, but she needs your help with right now." Death told him, "Do you think you can do that?"

Dean nodded.

"I need you to look at this." Death instructed, sliding a picture of the mark over to him, "And when Angela takes your hand, I'm going picture it on her arm. You think you can do that for me?"

"Okay. "Dean agreed.

"Now," Death warned, "It's going to hurt a little bit, and it might be a scary, but I think a brave boy like you can handle it."

"And Mommy and Daddy are going to be here the whole time." Sam assured him, wrapping his hand around Dean's little one.

Angela took his other hand and Dean imagined the funny picture on her arm, just like her boss said. Suddenly his arm felt like it was fire and red veining appeared on his arms.

"It's okay sweetie, it's okay." Hannah stroking his head, fighting every instinct telling her to call it off.

"But it hurts!" Dean protested.

"I know, but we need you to be our brave boy, now, okay?" Sam told him, wishing there was any other way, "You're going great, Dean, you're doing really great." He looked over to see Angela gasping in pain. This branding had been Much worst. "You are, too."

With a gasp of pain from Angela and a scream from Dean, the Mark appeared on Angela's arm. Dean feel back, curled up and Hannah's lap. "I don't wanna do that again. Never ever."

"You won't have to." Death assured him, standing up and leaning in, "But you just did a very, very brave thing, and you should be very proud of yourself. Now, I have to take Angela home now, and it will hopefully be a long time before I see you again. Have a good long life." And with that, Death, Luna and Jill were gone.

That was when it hit Hannah. "What just happened?"

"I'll tell you when I process it myself." Sam responded.

Dean yawns. "I'm sleepy now."

Hannah stood up; the child cradled in her arms. "Well, I think it's time for a nap then."

They walked into the stacks where Charlie and Luna was waiting with Cas. "Is it done?" Charlie asked, standing up.

"Yeah." Sam told her, "It's done."

Walking over to Dean and Hannah, Luna said contritely. "I'm sorry."

"Probably better we find out about this now than later." Hannah admitted, even though she was finding it really hard not to be mad right now.

Luna kissed a now asleep Dean on the forehead, the vanished.

"How does she do that?" Cas asked.

"We'll tell you when you're older, little one." Hannah assured him, holding out her hand, "Come. It's time for a nap."

Cas walked, holding both parents by hand, but instead of going to their room, to his surprise they went to his parents room. Still he let his Daddy put him on the bed next to Dean who was already asleep. When Hannah was sure Cas asleep, Hannah put hand on Dean's forehead.

"Ah, I don't think you should do that." Sam said, not wanting Dean to remember what that happened, either, but a mind wipe seemed wrong to him.

"It's not what you think." Hannah told him, "I'm making it so he'll think it was all just a bad dream. At least until he's a bit older.

"Okay." Sam nodded, then got on the bed on the side Dean was one. He could call Bonnie and Clive latter to tell him about Angela.

And so, as Charlie Bradbury did some reading to pass the time, Bonnie Chau and Clive Parker drove back to Lincoln, the _Patrona_ showed the young Amazons around the commune and showed them how everything work, Angela got settled as well as she could as the end of the universe, Cain killed demons, Crowley thought off a mini nervous break down and Sunflower and Cassidy Porter talked, the Winchester children slept cradled in their parent's show.

 **AN: So, I think this might actually this story's longest chapter to date. This was probably unnecessary, but I tend to over think things, so this is what happens. See you all next week!**


	57. Playdate

There were a lot of things Dorian-Selene didn't know. She didn't why her sisters had a different Mama then she did. She didn't know why her Mama was always acting so mean and getting into trouble. She didn't know why Aunt Oliva didn't like Mama Elsbeth or why Aunt Oliva had tried to make her say things about Mama Elsbeth that wasn't true. She didn't know why they were staying with Uncle Benny for so long. She didn't know why everybody else called Uncle Benny by his last name. She didn't know why she had a different last name from everybody else. Until recently she didn't know where her father was always going, but now that she did, she didn't know why the aliens couldn't put time frames for when they would be back on their notes.

She also didn't know what she was going to wear for her playdate.

"See anything you like here, sweet pea?" Elsbeth asked, pulling out a pink-t shirt tank from a purple roller suitcase on the bed. Rawls had cleared out a couple of drawers from them and the entirety of the guess room closet, but they were still partially living out of their suitcases. Probably for the same reason Elsbeth hadn't done much in the way of looking for more permanent lodging. It made it feel like fleeing. And she wasn't ready to uproot her girls, officially leave her job and her clients, because Oliva Meres was so attached to her version of reality that would trick her own niece into committing perjury.

Dory looks at the presented clothes and couldn't decide. She wanted to look nice for her friend. That was when she saw the pale pink dress with some fort of purple sash thing with a ribbon around that and white frill around the neck. She liked that one, but that was Scarlet's. But maybe Scarlet would let her barrow it? Tenetively she pointed at dress.

Realizing what she was pointing to, Elsbeth pulled out the dress. "This dress?"

Dory nodded. "Would Sissy let me borrow it?"

Elsbeth bit her lip. It was a good question. The dress had been a gift for Scarlet's third birthday and one of the only times Dorian actually came through. (Mulanwas the first movie she had managed to sit through, and she loves pink.) Even though it didn't fit anymore it was still one of her most prized positions. But…Dory rarely asked for anything. She just took whatever Elsbeth gave her like it was then she could have expected or hoped for and still needed to be asked if she would seconds, or ice cream or a turn on swing set in the courtyard back home. So when she asked for something, it was significant and Elsbeth knew she couldn't bring herself to deny her. Plus, Scarlet had given her, the plush fawn Rawls had given her for Christmas completely unbidden, her own idea, so, it was worth a shot. "Hey, Scarlet," Elsbeth called out, getting the girls attention, "Would it be okay if baby sister borrowed your Mulan dress, just for today?"

Scarlet, dressed in the fabled leopard pink jump suit, turned from where she had been putting a toy in her backpack and bit her own lip now, looking back at the dress and then looking at Dory, nervously shifting. At last she asked, "Can I get back later?"

"Of course." Elsbeth assured her.

"Okay." Scarlet agreed.

Dory gave her sister a little smile. "Thank you."

A few minutes later, with everyone officially dressed and cleaned up, three stair-stacked girls sat on a yellow couch, waiting for their friends to show up.

"When they gonna be here?" Scarlet asked.

"Around ten." Elsbeth answered, "They should be here in a few minutes. You know, you could play until they get here."

Vanessa and Scarlet scooted off the couch and ran back into the bedroom, however, Dory just sat there, clutching her deer.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Elsbeth asked, walking over, "Don't you want to go play?"

Dory shook her head.

"I bet they're coming up with something _really_ fun in there." Elsbeth tempted.

"Waiting for Cas." Dory told her.

Elsbeth sat down beside her. "Dory, you remember what we talked about, right? You have to include Dean, too? And Maude, if she comes."

"I know." Dory told her.

Elsbeth wasn't so sure. She got the feeling that Dean would playing with the older girls.

Just then the doorbell rang. "That's probably them now." Elsbeth said, getting up and walking to the door. She looked through the whole, then opened it, revealing Hannah and the boys, plus Maudie. "Hey, guys." Elsbeth greeted them warmly, "Hey, Hannah. Girls, the boys are here."

Dory slid off the couch and walked over to Cas.

"Hey, Dory." Cas greeted her as Vanessa and Scarlet came back in.

"Girls, why don't you show the boys and Maudie the guestroom?" Elsbeth suggested.

As the only girls pulled on Dean, leading him to the best room, and Dory lead Cas, their mother called back, "Nessa, Scarlet, remember, they're little!" Then she turned her attention back to Hannah, "Come on, in."

"Thank you." Hannah said, walking in.

"Do you want anything?" Elsbeth asked, "Water? Coffee? Tea? Seriously, I think Benny has, like, every one of stupid little singles cups in the cabinet?"

"No, that's fine, thank you." Hannah assured her.

"Thanks for coming over on Monday." Elsbeth told her, coming over, "I know it's not always a good day for people." Plus, the fact that since the solon where she worked was in another state, and it's not as if there any appointments, they could have probably made another day work and she felt a bit guilty.

"It's alright, I just took care of everything Sunday." Hannah assured her, "My hours are flexible."

"Yeah, you're ah, you're a saleswoman, right?" Elsbeth asked, coming back over to the couch and gesturing for Hannah to sit down.

"Door to door." Hannah answered, taking her up on the offer to sit.

"Really?" Elsbeth responded, sitting down, "I didn't know that was a thing. Well, unless you count the Jehovah's Witnesses." She crossed her leg, then, seeing hint of red and green sticking out from under her sock, crossed them in the other direction.

"Are you alright?" Hannah asked, concerned, "You seem a little—uncomfortable."

"Oh, I'm fine, I was just—hiding this." She held pulled the sock down revealing, an rose tattoo that coiled around her ankle.

Hannah eyed her strangely not understanding what the big deal was.

"It why I usually where pants or long skirts. "Elsbeth said. Of all the days to pick to wear a pencil skirt that only went to bit below the knee, "I mean I know it's not a big deal anymore, a lot of people have tattoos. Kindergarten teachers have tattoos. Other moms in my old preschool moms group had tattoos. It's just—I guess there's something about it just screams to me, 'proof of past misdeeds'. I mean, before I became a mom I was _wild._ "

After beat, trying to comfort her, Hannah confessed, "Before I became a mom I got into knife fights." It was bit of an oversimplification, but it was true. Of course she still sometimes got into 'knife fights' but that was neither here nor there, so she wasn't about to bring it up.

"Knife fights?" Elsbeth repeated, "Seriously?"

Hannah nodded.

"Whoa." Elsbeth responded, "Well, that explains what happened at wedding."

Hannah blushed. "Rawls told you about that?"

"You attacked him with a sword, so yeah." Elsbeth confirmed.

"It's more of a blade actually." Hannah told her.

In the guess room, Vanessa was currently showing them their pet guinea pig who live in a cage on top of the dresser. She was very soft -looking, with solid gray fur and dark eyes.

"This is Mercy Watson." Vanessa introduced her, "She's a guinea pig. We wanted a real pig, but Mama said we couldn't take care of it. But she thought we could take care of her."

"Me and my Mommy have a goat." Maudie told them.

"Goats aren't pets." Scarlet declared.

"Scarlet be nice." Vanessa scolded.

"Does she live in that thing?" Dean spoke up, pointing to cage.

"Most of the time." Vanessa admitted, "But sometimes Mama lets her out so we can hold her or we put her in a ball to play with her on the floor."

"Can we get her out and play with her?" Dean asked hopefully.

"Scarlet, go ask Mama." Vanessa told her sister.

Scarlet ran out of the guess room and back into the living room. "Mama, can we put Mercy Watson in her ball?"

"Who's Mercy Watson?" Hannah asked.

"Their pet guinea pig." Elsbeth explained, "Is it okay if your boys play with her? I mean, they don't have any allergies, do they?"

"Dean's allergic to cats." Hannah divulged, "But it seems to be only cats. A rodent shouldn't bother him."

Elsbeth turned back to Scarlet. "But you have to bring her in here, okay?"

"Okay." Scarlet agreed.

Playing with Mercy Watson meant putting her in an orange ball with little ovals cut in for air, and letting her run around on the floor while the children got on their hands and knees following her. As simple as it was, they had time of their lives doing it, trying anticipate where the guinea pig would go next. Well, everyone except Dory, who held back from the crowd on one side of the couch.

Cas came over to her. "It's alright." He told her, "She doesn't mind, even if we are a bit annoying." After a beat he added, "I'm not sure what that means."

"Scared." Dory told him.

"Of Mercy Watson?" Cas asked, to which Dory nodded, "You don't need to be scared of her. She's little, and fuzzy." Taking her by the hand he said "I show you." Then he reached managing to get his hands on the ball and rolled it towards Dory and himself, much to Mercy Watson's chagrin.

"Castiel, what are you doing?" Hannah gently demanded, as it didn't seem like something he should be doing.

"I just want to show her Mercy Watson's not scary." Cas answered, trying to figure out how to open the ball.

Getting on her knees, Elsbeth instructed, "Better let me help you with that, little dude." The she took the lid of the ball off and scooped up the creature in her hands. "You want to hold her?"

Cas nodded and Elsbeth carefully deposited in her in his hands. "Careful now, don't drop her, hold her with both hands."

Cas did, holding her out to Dory. "See? She's friendly."

Dory curiously reached out and patted the creature. Cas was right in was soft and furry. She likes.

"She also says it's about time." Cas whispered to her, "You're too timid, whatever that means." He knew he wasn't suppose to be doing this, but it was okay. Dory wouldn't tell anyone.

"Thanks for helping with this." Elsbeth told Hannah later as she checked on the soup.

"It's the least I could do, really." Hannah told her, buttering a piece of bed. After a beat she added, "The kids seem to be having a really good time. Your older girls are really good with them all."

"I think the stair stacked ages helped a little bit." Elsbeth told her, going to the cabinet to get glasses house. "You know, got them use to younger kids. "She glanced over to the bedroom. "You know, they've been awfully quiet in there for a while."

"I'll go check on them." Hannah volunteered, putting down the butter knife and walking off.

In the guess room, Scarlett had started pulling out toys from their backpacks. "And this is Palm Beach Barbie." She said pulling out a blonde-haired doll with a purple and white two-piece bathing suit printed on her.

"Scarlet, they're boys." Vanessa scolded, "They don't want to play with dolls."

"I don't mind." Dean assured them. Maudie was usually okay with whatever they wanted to do, but sometimes she would really want to play dolls, so they played that with her.

"Me neither." Cas added.

"Why does she have that stuff on her?" Dean asked, before handing the doll to Maudie.

"That's her bathing suit." Scarlet explained.

"Girls wear clothes to take baths?" Dean asked, befuddled.

"No, we wear 'em to swim." Scarlet answered, before pulling another doll, this one completely naked. "This Ken."

"Where's his clothes?" Cas asked.

"Um," Scarlet began, looking in the case, "They have to be in here somewhere…."

That was when Dean took the doll and noticed something _rather_ important was missing. "Where's his wee-wee?" He asked moving the doll's legs back and forth.

"It's what?" Scarlet asked, looking up.

"His wee-wee!" Dean exclaimed.

And that was what Hannah walked in on.

Dean turned to face his mother holding out the doll, which he had upside down. "Mommy, why doesn't Ken have a wee-wee? What happened to it?"

Hannah, who up until this moment didn't even know what Ken doll was, fumbled for words.

Hearing Dean's distress, Elsbeth joined her fellow mother. "Everyone okay?"

"Not Ken, possibly." Hannah mumbled.

"He doesn't get a wee-wee!" Dean exclaimed.

"What is a wee-wee?!" Scarlet exclaimed.

Taking a minute to gather her thoughts, Elsbeth crouched down. "Okay, first thing's first. Dean, Ken doesn't have a wee-wee because dolls don't have wee-wees. Not even boy ones."

"Why not?" Dean asked.

"Because then girls wouldn't want to play with them." Elsbeth replied.

Dean seemed to mull this over.

"And Scarlet, different people call it different things." Elsbeth informed the little redhead.

"Oh." Scarlet said, satisfied.

The adults stepped back, Elsbeth rubbing her forehead. "I am so sorry."

"It's not your fault." Hannah assured her, "And I don't think Dean was too traumatized." She peaked back in to double check, and indeed, Dean seemed to have already forgotten about the eunuch doll, instead examining the other offerings, "I just hope your girls didn't discover anything you weren't ready for yet."

"Don't worry about it, Vanessa had vague ideas about guys peeing differently." Elsbeth assured. After a beat she added, "But not inappropriate way, in a normal, age-appropriate thing." After another she added, somewhat disconcerted, "Although they keep—hovering around the door when Benny's in the bathroom. I don't know if that's normal or not."

"Probably." Hannah told her, "I mean, Sam's been working on this all-women commune and he always has a gathering of the little ones whenever he exits the outhouse. One day he asked him what they were doing and they tell him straight up they're trying to see a hoo-hoo. To which he told them hoo-hoos were highly poisonous."

Elsbeth burst out laughing, good and hard, actually slapping her knee at one point. "That's—that's good. I have to remember that one." After wiping her eye, she realized. "Wait, all-women commune? What exactly does your husband do, if it's okay to ask?"

"He does work on farms, lifting things, chores, some repair work. Sometimes he just does people's gardens." Hannah answered, "He's also a dog-walker. "She winched a little anticipating an odd look.

"Hey, it's honest work." Elsbeth told her, not seeming the least bit fazed.

Wrangling six kids to get lunch severed was a bit of an endeavor.

Dean, Castiel, Maudie, and Dory two short to their food on the table, but Elsbeth only had the one booster seat, and Hannah hadn't thought to bring the ones for home. They manage to make some out of a couple of thicker books in the house, with pillows put on top of that, but when the boys tried to climb up, those toppled over. After reconstructing the home-made boosters, Elsbeth took Dean and Hannah took Cas and put them on top.

"Um, Vanessa was reading a book where a girl used a fruitcake for a booster seat." Scarlet told them.

"Really?" Hannah asked, "Where's a fruitcake when you need it?"

Dory, however, was just stirring the red liquid in her bowel looking down at it.

"What's wrong sweetie?" Elsbeth asked, somewhat afraid of the answer, "You usually like a tomato soup."

"Sissy's dress…" Dory reasoned.

Scarlet bit her lip. They had been so engrossed that she actually forgot Dory was wearing her dress. Now that she did, she was really scared, as if there anything she had learned in her five years on this planet, it was that red food and nice clothing did _not_ mix.

"Alright, hang on." Elsbeth urged, "I had a solution." She disappeared into guest room, then came back out holding a large, stained, thread-bare t-shirt. Dory stood up and let Elsbeth helped her put on, then sat down and dug into her soup, the protentional crisis averted.

Things quieted down after launch, Vanessa, pulling out a book as the younger children gathered around her. "Mercy Watson Princess in Disguise." She began, turning the page, "For Max, who would follow Mercy anywhere. K. D. In memory of my Gram, maker of the most extraordinary costumes C. V. Chapter 1. Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson have a pig named Mercy. Mr. Watson, Mrs. Watson, and Mercy live together in a house at 54 Deckawoo Drive. One October afternoon, in the living room of the house on Deckawoo Drive…."

By the time Vanessa was on chapter 5, the toddlers were asleep, Cas and Dory covered under Coat, and Dean right next to his brother, and Maudie next to him, leaving Vanessa's only audience Scarlet, and the adults who had finished rinsing the dishes and putting them in the washer.

"'In my opinion,' said Eugenia, 'pigs should not go trick-or-treating. In my opinion, pigs should not pose as princesses.'" Vanessa was reading.

"This Eugenia seems a little tightly wound to me." Hannah whispered to Elsbeth.

"We have this whole series and the spin-off, trust me, that's putting it nicely." Elsbeth whispered back, "I had teacher like that once."

Suddenly, music started to play. _"I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend. You could, cut ties with all the lies that you've been living in…"_

"That's my phone." Elsbeth declared, looking around. Seeing her purse on the counter she goes up and pulled out her phone, her face contorting at the call ID. "I think I need to take this, and in private, mind watching these guys for a couple minutes."

"Of course." Hannah assured her.

Elsbeth just nodded her thanks as she ran into the bathroom, locking the door.

Elsbeth stayed in the bathroom for about nine chapters, talking so softly nobody could hear what was being said, not that anyone was trying. It wasn't Hannah's business, and the girls were too engrossed the tale of pigs in princess dresses, spontaneous Halloween parades, and cats stuck in tree. "At the fire station, the phone rang. Ned took the call…."

That was when the peace punctuated by an angry shout of "Fuck!"

After that everything was still a moment. Then Scarlet asked, "What does that mean?"

"Your Mama will explain it to you later." Hannah told her springing into action, "Right now, you need to come with me, okay?" The girls obeyed, letting the secret angel heard them into the guest room. "You have more of those books, right?"

Vanessa nodded.

"Okay, after you finish reading that one, get another one and keep reading until me or your Mama comes get you, understand?" Hannah ordered. It had briefly crossed her mind to just render them both unconscious, but then she would have to explain _how_ she had done that, and she was not ready to let them in on the masquerade just yet.

After Vanessa nodded her understanding, Hannah shut the door and went to see about Elsbeth.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Cullen." Elsbeth apologized, pacing the floor, "I didn't mean to say that. I should not have said that."

"Well, you've certainly summed up the situation perfectly." Mrs. Cullen replied on the other end of the line.

Just then there was a knock on the door. "Elsbeth?" Hannah called out, "You okay in there?"

Elsbeth had shot up, a thrill of alarm going through her, "Crap. I think the kids, heard me, and someone I over too, I—I-I have to go."

"Go." Mrs. Cullen told her, "I'll keep you posted."

Elsbeth went to door and cracked it open.

"Hi. Hannah greeted her.

"How much of that did you all hear?" Elsbeth asked.

"Just your big—well— "Hannah got out, trying to figure out a way to not upset her anymore.

"Oh no." Elsbeth moaned, rubbing her face.

"I told them you'd explain it later." Hannah told her, "I got them in the guest room reading loudly." After a beat she asked, "Can I come in?"

Elsbeth opened the door then Hannah stepped in, closing it. "Frist off, are you okay?"

"Physically, yeah." Elsbeth answered, sitting down on the toilet seat, "But mentally, oh, I feel like I've just been hit by a truck."

Hannah crouched down in front of her taking her hands. "I know it's none of my business, so I won't make you talk about it but—do you? Want to talk about it, I mean?"

After a long moment, Elsbeth told her, "It looks like Lucky _will_ be doing jail time if she ever gets out of the nuthouse at this rate. " She took a breath then explained, "With everything that was going on, no one's been paying the rent on her place, so when the land lord had them clear the place out, they found—well, let's just say it turns out the incident was not her only foreyay into shoplifting, or crime in general for that matter. They found over two grands in stolen merchandise and a crap load of fake IDs. And that lead the police down a rabbit hole and now they got her for check kiting, too. "She rubbed her face again, "I mean, I knew Dory had taught her some of his tricks but I never thought she was—"

"Dor—" Hannah began, then realized, "You're talking about your ex, aren't you?"

Elsbeth, "She named her after him. And she added the Selene park because apparently Cleopatra named her daughter Cleopatra-Selene. Which, probably tells you all you need to know about Lucky's thought process. Speaking of which, to top this all off, the doctor's at Saint Victoria's, think they might have a diagnosis, Narcissistic Personality Disorder."

"What does that mean?" Hannah asked, trying to understood what that meant for the situation.

"It means there's no fixing this with pills, because they don't make that yet." Elsbeth responded, "And now Oliva's doubling down-" Her voice trailed off as she started to become unglued again.

"Elsbeth, jut breath." Hannah ordered urgently, "Just breathe in and out, slowly.

Elsbeth breathed, taking several breaths in and out, slowly.

"How are you feeling?" Hannah questioned.

"Not as terrible." Hannah said honestly.

"Good." Hannah said, "Now, who is Oliva, and what does she had to do with any of this?"

"Lucky's sister." Elsbeth answered, "She's in complete denial that anything's wrong with her sister. Or to who her sister really is for that matter. When she found out about the agreement, we had reached she thought I must have tricked her precious sister into signing away her child, never mind the whole rest of the family was completely okay with this, and the woman's been out to get me ever since. She's actually the reason we had to leave Oklahoma City." She paused wondering if should go into detail. At last she said, "She called me asking to see Dory, and thought it was a good sign, that she was coming around. Then she takes me up on my offer for a glass of water and when I come back, I hear her plan out they telling Dory she needs to say I hit her."

That left Hannah utterly shocked. "What?! I mean, I heard what you said, but—what?"

Elsbeth nodded but I kept on. "I know coaching when I see it. My mother certainly coached me enough. Thank God Oliva is exceedingly bad at it." She had paused a minute, anger welling up inside her again, the wound fresh, "You know, she could have got Nessa and Scarlet taken away from me too with that little stunt she pulled. Did she even think about that? Did that ever cross her cognitive dissident mind?"

Hannah felt both angry and heart broke at the same time. Doing the only thing she could think to do, raise up and wrap her arms around Elsbeth. Then she realized, "I'm sorry, I probably should have asked if this was okay first."

"No, I—don't mind at all." Elsbeth told her, "In fact I—actually kind of needed this right now."

As they broke the embrace, Hannah realized there were a couple more things she could do. "Now, has she done anything else? How solid is your footing in keeping Dorian-Selene?"

"No, and I called like, two different lawyers, a social worker and paralegal with the prosecutor's office before I left town." Elsbeth declared, "It's not impenetrable, but it's all legal, and I am allowed to leave town with her. Plus, I don't think the family's any happier with Oliva than they are with Lucky right now, if what Dory's grandmother just told me was any indication. Apparently, the woman tried to report me for—I don't know what, but her husband took the phone away and her family put their foot down, too." After that She just sat down rubbing her temples.

"Do you need us to leave?" Hannah offered, figuring it wasn't the best kind to have people over.

"No." Elsbeth told her, "I'm going wait until we know for sure what's going to happen before I tell Dory anything, and I should let her be happy now if she's going to be sad later. Does that-does that make any sense?"

"Yes." Hannah answered, "Do you, do you need another minute?"

"I—I think I'm good thanks." Elsbeth said, getting off of the toilet, "Now, I need to go have a talk with the girls about…what they heard."

They stepped outside and found four toddlers on the floor in spite of Vanessa reading so loudly she could be heard from behind the shut door. "'My darling, my dear, my porcine princess, said Mr. Watson, 'aren't you glad you put on the pink dress?'"

"Man, these kids are heavy sleepers." Elsbeth noted.

"I got them." Hannah told her.

"Thanks." Elsbeth replied, creeping around the snoozing forms before opening door and walking in.

"Bread was toasting!" Vanessa read aloud, "Butter was…" He voices trialed off as she saw her mother. "Hi, Mama."

"Hi girls," Elsbeth said, crouching down, "We need to talk about what you just heard."

"You said a funny word." Scarlet summarized, "And the Miss Hannah locked us in here and made Vanessa read."

It was one of those moments where, if it wasn't sad, it'd be funny. "That's what we need to talk about." Elsbeth said finally, "That word. See, that word I used is bad. Very, very bad. Like, so bad you can't even say it on TV."

Meanwhile, back in the living room, Hannah was on the floor with the children, when she heard whimpering. Looking at them all she had a terrible feeling that she knew where it had come from. "Dory?" She whispered, "Dory, are you up?"

Dory raised her head up.

"H-How long have you been up?" Hannah gapped, afraid of what the child might have heard.

"Little bit." Dory answered, "Sister reading loud."

"And that's all you heard?" Hannah asked, "Your sister reading?"

Dory nodded.

Hannah let out a sigh of relief. "Come here."

Head still fogged with sleep, Dory walked over and sat down in Hannah's lap, resting her head against her chest. Rolling over, Cas' eyes slowly opened, looking around. Seeing Dory in his mother's lap, he got up and toddled in that direction as well.

Back in the room Scarlet asked, "But if it's that's bad, why did you say it?"

"Because," Elsbeth began, "Mama made a mistake. Sometimes, even adults, make mistakes, but what's important is that we own up to them, and learn from them and try to make it right. Do you understand?"

The girls nodded?

"I'm sorry I said that word." Elsbeth apologized, "And now, Mama is going to take a slip from the consequence jar." She got up and pulled a plastic jar filled with slips of paper and took one out, reading it, "Extra chores. Looks like Mommy's doing disses _and_ cleaning up Mercy's Watson's poop."

The girls giggled.

"Oh, you like that, do you?" Elsbeth snarked, before lunging at the girls and tickling them both, "Do you?!"

The room erupted with shrill laughter.

When they got out of the room, they found four partially awake toddlers surrounding the only adult in the room. "Everything okay?" Hannah asked, her head titled to side slightly.

"Yeah, we're good." Elsbeth assured her.

"Mama has to clean Mercy Watson's poop!" Scarlet explained.

Hannah gave them a questioning look.

"Penitence for my bad word." Elsbeth explained, "You know Scarlet, you don't have to tell everything."

"You said a bad word?" Cas asked.

"While you guys were asleep." Elsbeth admitted.

"Oh." Cas said, sleepy.

After the toddlers woke up, Vanessa and Scarlet mercifully directed them to a new activity: Dress up.

"Baby sister didn't use to like dress up." Scarlet informed them, pulling out the saffron scarf and then an over-sized white one, followed by a witch's hat.

"You know, Sissy, you don't have to tell everything." Vanessa repeated their mother's sediments.

Dory picked up the saffron scarf and started wrapping it around her fawn's neck, but couldn't make the knot.

"Here." Vanessa offered, taking the scarf and properly tying it.

Cas picked up the witch hat and examined it closely. Then he told Dory, "You should put this on."

Both children took it in their hands and lowered it over Dory's head. It was too big and covered her eyes, but she liked it.

"You look pretty." Cas complimented her.

Dory smiled at him.

"Why do these haves holes in them?" Dean asked, holding up a dented chain of pink beads.

"Those are teeth marks." Vanessa corrected him, "We chewed on them when we babies cause our teeth hurt."

"That's weird." Dean said, still examining them, handing them Maudie.

"Can I wear those?" Scarlet asked.

"But I wanted to wear them." Maudie told her softly, who was holding out her hands.

Getting an idea, Vanessa suggested, "Go see if Mama will let you put on her bangles."

"Good idea." Scarlet agreed, running out of the room.

They spent the next fifteen minutes, they children dressed themselves and dressed each other, in the end looking both utterly ridiculous and glorious. Vanessa had white scarf wrapped around her head and had a piece of white cloth they had used for a ghost costume over her clothes. Scarlet had an armed covered in a rainbow of bakelite bangles, with cat ears. Dory had on the hat Cas had helped her put on, and had dug into Elsbeth offered jewelry as well, a large plastic white water with intricate black design on the front side, with soft black cord tired around it. Maudie had on the teething necklace and gauzy aqua skirt she had put over her shorts, and a pair of green wings. Dean had found a fireman hat and the girls had talked him into putting a pink tutu on, all the while he was wielding a plastic ninja sword that he found in the dress-up bin. Cas had put his coat over him, which was still way too big for him, and the girls had talked him into putting of all things, a large peach dollie on his head.

Dean was the first to come running out to show their mothers what they had done. "Mommy, look!" He shouted, swinging the sword around.

"I see, you look so handsome!" Hannah beamed at him.

Then Vanessa walked out, swishing her cloak back and forth, followed by Scarlet, meowing like a cat.

"Aw, what cute little, kitty cat!" Elsbeth beamed, petting her on the head.

Maudie ran in declaring, "I can fly!" Then she proceeded to try to do so around the room.

Lastly Cas stepped out, guiding Dory the hand, as she couldn't see with the hat over her eyes.

"You know that coat doesn't look bad on him." Elsbeth commented to Hannah before leaning down and pulling up the hat. "You look great."

Dory smiled, but shuffled uncomfortably.

"Really, you are." Elsbeth assured her, "In fact—" She pulled out her phone in snapped a picture. Getting a wild hair, she said, "Let's make this a real photo shoot." Then pulling out a window, she hit one of the kid-friendly mixes. " _Tell everybody I'm on my way. New friends and new places to see…."_

Both mothers spent the next ten minutes taking pictures of kids who posed and preened, having the time of their lives.

After another hour or so, Reason arrived to pick up Maudie. "So this where Rawls lives." She noted, looking around after hugging Maudie.

"Yep." Elsbeth responded.

"Listen, thanks for letting her tag along today." Reason said, picking Maudie up.

"The girls loved her." Elsbeth assured her, "Maybe next time we do this you can get off."

"Wouldn't that be great." Reason replied, the addressed her daughter, "Maudie, you want to say goodbye to everyone?"

Maudie nodded, and Reason sat her down.

"We probably need to be going to." Hannah added.

"I don't want them to go." Dory protested, holding fast to Cas' hand, "Can't they live here, too?"

Cas didn't look so sure about this plan, but he still help hold of Dory's hand.

"Well, we'd really miss him." Hannah told her, then got an idea, "Hey, if it's okay with Mama Elsbeth, we could call you when we get back home and you could talk to him.

Dory's eyes lit up at that. "Really?"

"Really." Elsbeth confirmed, nodding, mouth to Hannah, _Thank you._

After that it was a rather short car ride home. "Honey, we're home." Hannah called out as they entered bunker.

"Hey," Sam called out, stepping from the kitchen, "How did the playdate go."

"There were some—unexpected developments, but the children enjoyed themselves." Hannah asked.

That was when Cas pulled on her sleeve. "Mommy…."

"Sorry, little one." Hannah told him. She had almost forgot. She pulled out her phone and dialed the number.

The minute it was picked up, a little voice asked. "Cas?"

"Hi Dory." Cas answered.

And with that, both homes filled with happy toddler babble.


	58. General Equivalency

It was hot.

Too hot for blankets, too hot for any kind of snuggling, too hot even for clothes. Maudie laid on the bed in her pullup and Reason in shorts and camisole, each on their own side of the beds, the blankets thrown off, Maudie's stuffies a few inches below her feet. At least they had plug in fan and that was a Godsend at the moment.

At least until the fan stopped.

Sweat fell into Reason's eyes, waking her up. She sat up and saw the fan motionless. "No." She breathed, getting out of bed. She flicked the switch bath and forth serval times, nothing. "No, no, no, no, no."

She unplugged the fan and took it to the kitchen area, placing it on the slab. Going over to the junk drawer she pulled out a screw driver that came with the place, somewhat rusty but still useable. Looking at the panel that would lead to the inside of the fan she sighed. Of course, it's a Phillip's head screws and she had had flat head screw driver. Going to back drawer, she pulled out a piece of paper and mumbled under her breath, causing the screws to undo themselves. She hadn't advanced enough to just do it by thinking. Lifting the panel into looked around until she came to conclusion that the thing was utterly shot. Dead.

"No, no, no, no, no." Reason chanted again, running her hands through her hair. She could _not_ stay in this place with a kid with no air caution in the middle of July.

This left two options. Reason desperately searched through her papers. No spell that could probably reanimate an electric fan. This left one option. Maybe should get Maudie dressed without waking her up, and find something portable for the child's breakfast, because by the time they got to town, found an open store, and found cheap but working fan, it would likely be time to drop her off at the Winchesters'.

When Maudie woke up, she could feel herself being moved. Scared, her eyes fluttered opened and found herself thrown over shoulder. Scared, she started to scream.

"Maudie, Maudie, it's okay," Reason said quickly, adjusted the child so she could see her face, causing her to drop the flashlight she holding, "It's me. It's Mommy. You're safe."

"Mommy?" Maudie asked, "What's going on?"

"The fan broke." Reason told her, "Mommy has to go get a new one."

"Can't we get one in the morning'?" Maudie asked groggily.

"I'm sorry, baby, but it has to be now." Reason told her, "Try to go back to sleep."

That turned out easier said than done, dozing in and out for most of the journey and by the time Reason found an open dollar store, was complaining of hunger.

"Here." Reason told, unpeeling a cheap granola bar and handing it to her, "But, baby, you need to eat fast." She didn't want to get in trouble for having outside food in the store.

Maudie quickly as they ducked into the appliance section, then asked, "Can I have more?"

Reason was one step ahead of her, unpeeling a bar and handing it to her as she looked at contents of the isle. "Come on, come on, come on." Reason chanted. Finally, her eyes landed on the fan, similar to the model that just broke. She picked it up and check the price tag, doing math in her head. They could make it. She put it her cart and headed down the aisle, making block to give Maudie time to eat.

That morning, Sam had just finished making eggs when there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it," He called out, before heading in the direction of the door.

When Sam opened the door, she found Reason looking like she was about to fall over, a shopping bag wrapped around her arm in addition to her usual luggage, and a grumpy looking Maudie.

"Are you guys alright?" Sam asked, concerned, ushering them in.

"Tired." Maudie moaned, nuzzling her head into her mother's side.

"I know baby, I'm sorry." Reason said, then addressed Sam, "Our fan broke in the middle of the night, and it's too hot to be out there without one, so I had to go to town to get one and by the time that happened it was time to be Maudie over. I tried to not to wake her up but she wound up waking up anyway."

"Have either of you had anything to eat this morning?" Sam asked, still concern.

"'Nola bar." Maudie answered, not moving from her spot.

"'Nola…?" Sam began, confused.

"She means granola bars; I took a couple for her." Reason answered.

Realizing that Reason was covering up that she hadn't eaten that morning and having seen the gornalla bars that Maudie was referring to, Sam said, "Come on, both of you, I just got breakfast ready."

"Sam, I can't, I…" Reason protested and she was herded down the stairs.

"I will drive you to work." Sam told her, "You're no good to anyone like this anyway."

After getting fried eggs on raw toast into her, Sam drove Reason out to where Rawls was waiting. Along the way the young mom fell asleep.

When the Impala pulled up, Sam was greeted by someone hitting the glass. "Hey!" Rawls called out, "She okay there?"

"Yeah, she just—she had rough night." Sam told him, them shook Reason awake, "Reason? We're here."

Reason jolted awake. "Huh?"

"We're here." Sam told her.

"Oh." Reason responded, "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem." Sam told her as he got out, then drove away.

As the Impala faded into the distance, Reason turned to look at her. "Rawls, I am so sorry."

"Hey, as long as it's not on the job, where you sleep is your business." Rawls told her, "Now come on, we have a lot of stops to make."

What Rawls had that day was creates of ice cream shaped like cartoon-characters. Since kids are taught _not_ to approach people in vans offering treats, he sold the ice cream directly to the trucks for less than the factories did.

"Do I even want to know where you got this?" Reason asked, diving the characters out in different boxes.

"I know a lady who works at the factory where they make this stuff." Rawls explained, working on his own box, "They give you as much free ice cream as you want."

Taking his box Rawls walked out to where an almost stereotypical ice truck sat, a man in an apron standing outside. He handed the box back to Reason then expected a stack of money from the man. After briefly counting it, he took the box back from Reason hand handed it to the driver. "Best of luck. "He said, before going back to the van.

At the end of their runs Rawls pulled back up to the parking lot and found a certain Impala waiting. "Were you expecting him?" He asked, as he handed over Reason's portion of the day's earnings.

"No." Reason said before stepping out and walking up to the Impala. "Ah, no offense, but what are you doing here?"

"I knew you were about to get off, and, ah, someone wanted to see you." Sam answered, gesturing to the back, where Maudie and only Maudie was sitting in the back in a crt seat, smiling when she saw her mother.

Reason smiled back. She couldn't deny being please with this turn of event as she had been missing her baby and it was one of those days when she felt like she had handed Maudie off to others to raise. Waving back at Rawls, she got in the back seat.

They were halfway to the dinner, Maudie happily telling Reason everything about her day in the overexaggerated way toddlers are prone to, when suddenly there was a loud _boom_ and the car came to a stop.

"Great." Sam said under his breath, getting out of the car followed by Reason.

"Let me look at it." Reason offered as he put the hood up.

Remembering what Hannah and Serena Joy had said about Reason's mechanical prowess, Sam stepped back and just let her get to work. "I, ah, might need tool box, you got one?"

"There's one in the back, I think." Sam told her, going to go get said toolbox.

After looking under the hood, she came back up, saying, "Okay, from the looks of it, you've literally blown a gasket, and when I say literally, I mean literally. Do you have a pin and some paper?"

Sam handed scrapped a receipt and pin and Reason quickly rote down a list of items. "I'm going to need these or the substituted I listed to side. Most of it you should be able to find in the _Wal-Mart_ auto section. The rest—I don't know." She sighed. She was _so_ going to be late for work.

Somehow, Sam managed to find everything on the list, or a subsite, and Reason was able to fix the gasket in ten minutes time.

"Alright, the only thing to do now is test it." Reason announced, "Go try to start the car."

Sam did as instruct, and the car roared to life. "Yay!" Reason exclaimed, "Now we're talking!" Then she lept into the back seat.

"That—that was amazing." Sam declared, guineually impressed.

"Ah, it was nothing." Reason responded bashfully.

"Nothing?" Sam repeated, "Listen, I, ah, I know Hannah brought this up a few months back, but, ah, have you considered trade school?"

Reason smiled ruefully, shaking her head. "I like I think told her, I don't have the money or the time. I don't even have high school degree."

"Well, you could get a GED." Sam reasoned, "And the diner might work with you so you can work and go to school. Rawls definitely would. And, with so many online schools, they might offer an automotive technology degree that way—"

Just then they pulled up at the diner and Reason kiss Maudie on the forehead. "Love you, baby."

"Love Mommy." Maudie replied.

"I know you mean well, Sam, but—I don't think it's going to happen." Reason told him, although she hated to admit it. She leaned into the window and spoke, lowly, so Maudie couldn't hear, "Pregnant teenage runaways don't tend to go very far."

"Funny, because, I remember a pregnant teenage runaway inventing science fiction on a bet." Sam countered.

Reason didn't know how to respond. Mainly because he had no clue what he was talking about.

"Have a good night." Sam told her, "And thanks for the help with the car."

Reason smiled gratefully. "Thanks for the ride."

When Reason got into the dinner, the place wasn't too busy, except for a few except for ab old man in a corner booth and woman with kids by the window, and Serena Joy by the window, having some kind of fight with Jerry, the cook on duty, fighting in front of everyone over some sort of white frosted cake. Litterly, it was on the window between the two of them, still on Serena Joy's clear cake plate.

"I'm just saying the pie—maybe something people would be interested in, but this—" He gesture to the cake, "It's too fancy."

"This coming from the guy who got Howard to let him take three months off to go across the counties and get new and/or better recipes, and added the hang town fry to the menu! "Serena Joy pointed out, "Seriously, who is going to order anything with oysters in it from a place where the tile comes up in places and the lights flicker?"

"Uh, guys?" Davy spoke up from the grill he was currently preparing a Ruben on, "Maybe not fight in front of the customers."

"What's the problem?" Reason asked, coming up to them after clocking in.

"Jerry here thanks my Lane cake is too fancy for our clientele." Serena Joy explained, holding out the offending cake, "I say he has no clue what he's talking about. Reason, help me out here."

"I'd just let her be, Jerry." Reason advised, "Besides, you know any desert that doesn't come out of a can around here is her preview."

"Alright." Jerry gave him.

Just then Lucy came up, slapping an order on the counter. "I warn you; this might come as a shock."

Jerry looked down at the paper in his face lit up. "Somebody ordered the hang town fry. "He declared, as if in pleasant disbelief, "Somebody actually ordered the hang town fry!"

"I stand corrected." Serena Joy said, sounding rather pleased.

Running to the back he realized, "Oh, crap. We don't have any oysters!"

Serena Joy pulled out a couple of twenties and her car keys and handed them to Reason. "Hey, run down to the store and get a couple packs of oysters before Jerry losses his mind. _Please._ "

Reason didn't have to be told twice. She whirled around and ran for the nova.

The next few hours, as the early bird dinners flittered in, and then the dinner rush, it was almost chaos. Reason was running from table to table, trying to wash them off, even with Jiya and Serena Joy stopping to help when they could, there always seemed to be one more table. She had to mop the floor three times, once from a toddler spilling grape juice, again from a toddler spilling milk, and finally from an adult spilling sprite. At least that didn't really stain.

And after dinner rush, they had some unexpected, _unwanted_ teenagers, talking very loudly and cussing like sailors on leave. They crammed into a both in Lucy's section, who came up and pleasantly greeted to. "Hi guys, my name's Lucy, I'll be your server this morning, do you know what you want to drink?"

"We don't need anything to get, sugar." A mop-headed boy did what he thought was flirting, "Just a plate of chicken strips and fires?"

"Really, that's all?" Lucy asked, "For all of you?"

"That's all we need, _bitch._ " A girl with a rig stuck in between her nostrils sneered.

Lucy did a smile she made when dealing with particularly difficult customers. "Will that be the three or five piece?'

While their food was being prepared, the youths actually painted their faces with the condiments on the table. They vaguely resembled Native American Warriors, except instead of looking fierce and intimidating, they look ugly and loathsome. When their food arrived, they began throwing it like they were apes.

The next few minutes were a mad dash to dodge the projectiles. Lucy managed to find shelter under a nearby table in her second, while Serena Joy grabbed Reason's wrist and together they ran for the counter. Davy crouched by the stove, but still managed to take a strip to the neck.

"Alright, that's it!" Jerry exclaimed, before marching out to the counter and pulling out the shotgun Howard kept under the counter in case of emergency, mainly robbery. Jerry cocked the gun then fired at the ceiling, causing the group to freeze.

"Alright, you got ten seconds to get out of her, or the next thing I hit won't be the ceiling." Jerry threatened, bluffing, but the feral teens didn't need to know _that_.

The teens didn't call him on it, fleeing from the diner. The second he was gone, everyone started cheering.

After all that, Reason finally got a moment's rest, leaned up against the pinball machine, when Serena Joy approached her holding something wrapped in cloth. "So, I was thinking, now that this place is totally dead, we have a little dinner of our own."

They sat in a back booth, splitting leftover bacon, the result of an over egger Jerry and bread stuffed with onion, cheese and rosemary, the result of a Serena Joy with extra time on her hands.

"Something, bothering you?" Serena Joy asked at one point, sitting a slice of bread down.

"Nothing, I'm just—I'm just tired." Reason said, "I had an unusually early start this morning."

"Maudie had a nightmare?" Serena Joy asked, before picking up the bread and putting it in her month.

"No, fan broke down in the middle of the night, had to get a new one." Reason told her.

"What?!" Serena Joy exclaimed, "Reason, you could've been hit by a car, you could've been an attacked—"

"Well, we were definitely gonna bake to death in that trailer with no air." Reason countered, "It was calculated risk." After a beat she changed the subject, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know who invented science fiction by any chance, would you?"

"That was a weird Segway." Serena Joy commented, geinuely surprised by the turn of events. "You mean like, the whole genre?"

Reason nodded.

"Well, I just would have to say—" Serena Joy had to rack her brain for a minute, "Mary Shelley. You know, the chick who wrote _Frankenstein._ "

"And um, how old was she when she wrote _Frankenstein_?" Reason questioned.

"She spent years working on it, but I think she was about sixteen or seventeen when she got the idea." Serena Joy answered, "A bunch of friends where having some sort of scary story telling contest."

"And she wouldn't have happened to be pregnant at this time, would she?" Reason continued.

"Okay, what's with the sudden interest in romantic gothic sci-fi horror literature?" Serena Joy demanded, as this conversation was getting _really_ weird.

"Long story." Reason replied, before taking a bite of the bread.

At eleven twenty that night, while Serena Joy waited in the car, Reason tentively knocked the door, which was tentively opened by Sam.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Reason asked, not use to him open the door at this time of night.

"No, I was…I was actually waiting for you." Sam said, as she walked in. Pulling out a stack of paper, he continued, "Listen, I know this may be _way_ out of line, but, I, um, printed some stuff about GEDs for you."

Reason took the papers and flipped through them.

"I really think you could do this." Sam told her, "I'd help you study for it. I did it once with Dean back…before. "He paused a moment gathering his thought, then finished, "Look, you said you fell in with Rowena because you were trying to give Maudie a better life, right? Well, this is how you get on the road to that." He felt guilty for going there, but it was true.

Reason finally looked up. "Can I…can I think about this?"

"Sure." Sam nodded, "Of course."

Reason didn't sleep last night. She just laid there in the bed, watching Maudie sleep, safe under the air of the new fan. Sam was right. She had become a witch, for her. She'd do anything for that little girl.

Maybe she could do this.

The next day she was back on seven to three. She went to drop Maudie off and the toddler, happily ran to her friends. "Hey, Sam," Reason asked, "Can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

"Sure." Sam said going off into the room.

Suddenly Reason's mouth went dry. She didn't know what to say.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sam asked.

Reason nodded, then suddenly broke into a smile. "I want to do it." She said finally, "When can we start?"

Sam told he would try to have some materials together by that night, so Reason just went about her work day, then went to pick up Maudie as usual.

"Hi, Hannah." Reason greeted the angel when she opened the door that afternoon.

"Hi." Hannah greeted her, somewhat nervously, "Maudie's ready, but, um, there's something you need to see."

Confused, Reason let herself be led into the bunker, where they found Sam at the table with a map of the world on it, not that one could tell it at that point, as because it was covered with books and paper.

"Sam?" Reason asked, mystified.

Sam raised up. "Hey." After a beat, he said, "So, I was able to get my hands on few actual high school texts online, and I, um, basically raided the nonfiction section of the youth area, and the area with _CliffsNotes._ Turns out they have for, um, just about everything. Not gonna lie to you, the next few weeks might suck." Then he paused, waiting for her reactions.

Reason could feel tear welling up in her eyes. She knew Sam said he'd be getting material together, but she wasn't expecting this. She couldn't believe Sam had gone all out for her. He couldn't believe he had done it so quickly. Wiping her eyes, she said, "Let's gets started."

They spent the neck hours up to their necks in social studies material. Reason would read at least a part of one of the books, and Sam would quiz her on it. She got about half them right, but the other half she didn't. In her mind, this did not bold well.

"Reason, it's okay." Sam told her, seeing her starting to get discouraged, "We've literally only just started. You'll get better."

That was when Hannah came in, carrying a tray. On the tray were two plates of shell pasta covered with what looked like thick meat sauce, heavy on the meat, and cheese. "How's it going?" She asked, sitting the tray down.

"It's…. going." Reason told her.

Hannah shout Sam a worried look. That didn't sound good.

"We're getting off to a bit of slow start." Sam told his wife, then addressed Reason, "Like I said, we just got started."

"Well, maybe some food will help." Hannah suggesting trying to be helpful.

"Thanks, honey." Sam told her, as food had honestly completely slipped his mind until that point, "Did you…"

"The kids are all at the table, plates in front of them." Hannah assured him, "Which I should probably make sure they're actually eating and not playing with. Are you two alright here?"

"Reason?" Sam asked, looking at her.

"I'm fine if you are." She told him.

"Then I'm fine." Sam agreed.

It became a steady, if hectic, rhythm over the next several days. Reason would go to work, study with Sam, go to her other job, maybe sleep an hour or two, then repeated the whole process. Except when she was working, working again, then studying, and maybe getting a couple of hours of sleep, repeat.

In the middle of this rhythm, one day she came into the dinner, dressed in one of Sam's shirt, which basically fit her like a mini-dress. As she went to call in, she got a couple of questioning glances, causing her to shrink back, a bit embarrassed. That was when Serena Joy, after dropping a load of used place, came up to her. "Hey," She greeted her, continuing as they walked, "What's with the new style?"

"It's Sam's shirt." Reason told her, "Hannah offered hers, but I felt bad taking it, I mean, the woman has like two outfits to her name and at least Sam has some selection he can chose from in its place."

"Uh-huh." Serena Joy responded, grabbing another order, "Which leads to the question _why_ did you have to borrow clothing from Mr. and Mrs. Winchester?"

"I was doing a study session and it went long than we met and we both wound up falling asleep in our chairs." Reason told her, "I didn't have time to go home this morning."

"Study session?" Serena Joy repeated, coming back and from serving the table, "Reason, what are you talking about?"

"I'm…. studying to take the general equivalency exam." Reason admitted, "Sam's been helping me."

"What?!" Serena Joy exclaimed in ecstatic disbelief.

"Ssh!" Reason exclaimed, before finding herself wrapped in a hug.

"That's great." Serena Joy told her, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know." Reason replied, "I just—I'm not sure if I can actually do it."

"Well, how's the studying doing?" Serena Joy asked, letting her go.

"Well, I'm getting better." Reason said, "I'm getting righter than I am wrong. Just—not enough to pass."

"Well, have you registered?" Serna Joy questioned.

"Not yet." Reason confessed.

"Well then you still have time." Serena Joy reasoned.

Just then, Jerry hit the bell. "Order up!"

"Gotta go." Serena Joy told her, hurrying around turning back around long enough, "Congratulations, really."

The evening after Serena Joy found out, Sam and Reason were at the table, Reason looking at set of notes, when there was the pitter patter of little feat. Dean was the first to appear, picking up a sitting Indian style with a book that had fell to the ground, opening it and looking at like he was reading.

"Ah, Dean, buddy," Sam began, somewhat bemused, "What are you doing?"

"I'm studying like you and Miss Reason." Dean answered.

As if cue, Maudie walked in and went straight to her mother, trying to get into the chair neck to her. Reason helped her in, but the child couldn't even see above the table.

"Ah, you guys know you can't even read, right?" Reason asked.

"We can still help." Dean declared.

"We promise not to get in the way." Maudie added, "Please?"

Just then Cas came in, dragging Coat behind him. "Hey!" He exclaimed indignantly, "I want to help, too!"

"We thought you were coming." Dean told him.

"Mind if they stick around?" Sam asked, thought he wasn't sure this is the best idea.

Reason looked at Maudie. "Do you really expect me to say no to _these_ little faces?"

That was when Hannah came running in, saying, "Sam, I can't-" Her voice trailed off when she the assembled children.

"It's alright." Sam told her, "They're all here."

Hannah then addressed the children. "Kids, Daddy and Miss Reason are busy right now—"

"It's okay." Reason cut her off, "They can stay."

It turns out, they were actually pretty helpful. They each took turns asking the questions, which seemed to keep them engaged.

Then they got to science and math.

The STEM areas were Reasons worst areas, and there wasn't much in the way of improvement so far. That night she got particularly discouraged, sliding to the floor and rubbing her face. This was mistake. She could _not_ do this. She might as well give up now…

That when Maudie climbed into her lap. "It's okay, Mommy. You'll get it. You're smart."

Reason felt both guilty and happy at the same time. Her baby girl shouldn't have to say that. But she was so sweet…

Dean and Cas nodded in agreement, hugging her.

"Sam, what did we do to deserve such sweet kids?" Reason asked hugging all three of them.

Sam shook his head, smiling at the scene. "I really don't know."

Eventually, the studying started to pay off, Reason getting enough right that if she got that amount right on the actually exam. After a fortnight of studying, it was time.

Sam pulled up in front of the high school where they were having the test, Reason in the shotgun seat, staring at the building, wide-eyed. "Well, this is it." He declared.

Reason turned around long enough to tell him. "Thanks for the ride."

"No, problem." Sam told her. He had already seemed her this far. "And Reason? Just calm, you got this."

"Okay." Reason agreed, opening the door to step out.

"You can do it, Mommy!" Maudie called out. The toddler had insisted on seeing her mother off that morning, scrambling up in one of the car before anyone could stop her.

Reason could feel literally tugging in her chest. "Thank you, baby. I'll see you in a couple of hours. Mommy loves you."

"Love Mommy." Maudie reiterated.

Sam watched Reason walk through the doors and then drove off, saying, "Okay, Maudie, Mr. Sam's going to make the block a couple of times to make sure Mommy stays inside before we go meet the others."

"Okay." Maudie agreed.

Just then the phone started to ring. "Maudie, do _not_ do what Mr. Sam is about to do." Then he picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Sam, it's Serena." Serena Joy whispered in her phone, hiding behind the half-wall of a small kitchen, "You drop our girl off?"

Sam, however, responded with, "Why are you whispering?"

"I'm catering a Daughters of the American Revolution in Junction City." Serena Joy answered, still talking in whisper, "Who even knew that was still a thing? So, how is she doing?"

"She's, um, she was nervous." Sam told her.

"Like how nervous?" Serena Joy asked, "Nervous enough she's gonna blank?"

"I don't—think so." Sam answered, "I'll keep you posted okay?"

"Alright." Serena Joy replied, peeking out from the half-wall, "And Sam? I'm holding your responsible for her."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Sam agreed, "Good luck."

Two hours later, Sam was at the curb when Reason stepped out. "How'd it go?" Sam asked as she got in the car.

"I don't know." Reason admitted, "It's kind of a blur. We'll know in about two weeks."

"You gave my email address, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Reason confirmed as they drove off.

Which why, two weeks later, Reason came down to the bunker, holding Serena Joy's hand.

"Today's the day." Serena Joy said, leading her down the stairs. Then squeezing Reason's hand and looking at her, she said, "Whatever happens it'll be okay."

Sam pulled away from the table where he already had his lab top up, on and open. "The email is there, but I didn't look."

Reason leaned over, everyone gathered around her. "Could use a little room guys?"

They backed up and Reason clicked on the email, her eyes widening and breaking into a smile. Raising up and turning to the group, she declared, "I passed."

The kids started happily squealing. "I knew you were a freakin' genius!" Serena Joy exclaimed, giving Reason a hug.

"I'm so happy for you." Hannah told her, hugging her as well.

As the embrace broke, Sam told her, "I knew you could do it."

Overcome with emotion, Reason threw her arms around Sam's neck. "Thanks for talking me into this." She said into his shoulder.

"It my pleasure." Sam smiled, before pulling back and pulling something out of his jacket. "We, ah, actually got you something to mark the occasion."

He handed a her book with dark night on the cover, punctuated by lightening and had the silhouette of a castle of in the back ground. The cover read _Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus._

"For the record, I met the real Prometheus once, he was much less of a tool than Victor." Sam told her.

Reason smiled, "One of the most famous authors of all time, a pregnant teenage runaway. "

Sam nodded. "Something like that."

And while Reason knew she still had a way to, she finally felt one step closer to a brighter future.


	59. Baking Minions

**AN: So, in trying to find a pretext for this chapter's concept, things got mood whiplashy, and possibly a bit stuffed.**

"Yeah, I just left the cul de sac." Hannah was saying on her phone, which on speaker on the dashboard of the Lincoln, "Should be about twenty minutes out. Do you need me to make any stops on the way home?"

"No, we're all good here." Sam responded.

That was Hannah saw her. She was in a long, brown dress that had been ripped open at the chest, showing a series of cuts on her chest. She had long, light brown hair, which was matted and dirty and to a careful observer it looked like in places to have been torn out by the roots. She was covered in blood, clearly injured, with some sort of warded chain collar around her neck, with a chain coming down from it.

Hannah quickly pulled over to the shoulder, startling the injured angel, who huddled to the ground covering her heads with her hands, franticly and pitifully chanting, "No, no, no, no, no, please no!"

"Sister, sister, it's alright." Hannah soothed urgently, crouching down and putting her hands out in front of herself, "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you."

The angel calmed down some, but still flinched, unable to look at Hannah directly.

"What's your name?" Hannah asked.

"Lailah," She answered, still not looking away.

"Lailah." Hannah repeated, "That's a nice name. Lailah, if you'll let me, I'm going to try to heal your wounds, but I'm going to need to get close enough to touch you. Is that alright?"

Lailah nodded. Hannah gingerly leaned in, starting with her arms, but the frightened angel still flinched.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Hannah said softly, "But it has to be done." After beat she observed. "Some of these are deep, and there's so many of them. What happened to you?"

"I was captured by demons." Lailah answered, "They—they hurt me. "Overcome again, she just started to cry.

That was all Hannah needed to know for now. She paused, pulling Lailah close to her, stroking the other's angel hair and rocking her, assuring her in hushed, soothing tones. "Ssh, ssh. It's alright, you got out, you're safe now, you're safe."

That was when a faintly familiar voice asked, "Um, is everything alright here?"

Hannah looked up to see someone she hadn't seen in a while, didn't expect to see again, and to a certain extent actually _hoped_ to never see again.

"You?" Freddy Chruwood declared in surprised, as he never expected to see her again either.

"Who?" Hannah repeated, equally surprised. Startled, and petrified, Lailah cowered in Hannah's arms, letting out a little whimper. "Ssh, ssh, it's alright. He's a friend." She then shot Hannah a look, pleading with him not to make a liar out of her.

"Hannah, what's going on here?" Freddy asked, "Who's she?"

"She's one of mine." Hannah explained, "Demons got a hold of her apparently. That's—that's really all I know so far."

Trying to help, Freddy crouched down a safe distance away in front of Lailah, saying, "Well, with a face like that, how can she be anything but an angel? Bet they're really missing you upstairs."

"I—I wouldn't say that." Lailah responded, "I wouldn't be surprised if anyone knew my name."

"Ah, I bet that's not true." Freddy declared as Hannah went back to working on Lailah's wounds.

It took twenty minutes, and even then everything wasn't fully healed, but Hannah was able to take care of all the superficial wounds, and either heal the severe or secure them until the others could help, Freddy talking to Lailah the whole time, managing to keep her clam and draw out a more detailed account of the events that led her to being on the side of the hallway, and together they were able to figure out who to get the chain leash off. After depositing Lailah in the car, they called Sam to explain the situation.

"They didn't ask her anything." Hannah was finishing, "They were just—torturing her to past the time, it seems like. But the hook the collar was fastened to was old, rusty, and she was eventually able to break if off, from that. "She rubbed her face, "I doubt they're going to be very happy when they realize she's gone."

"Me, too." Sam agreed, grabbing a piece of paper, "I'm assuring you're going to take her upstairs."

"Someone needs to." Hannah replied.

"Right," Sam responded, "Then I'll take care of the demons. Was she able to tell you anything about where she was kept, how many there were?"

"I'll text you everything she said about it." Hannah told him, "But, Sam, don't without back-up. Get Charlie. Actually, get Jody, too. Actually, call every hunter in your rolodex. Actually, I'll text you the number of that hunter I worked in Illinois."

"Ah, if you want, I could head down, help out your man." Freddy volunteered.

Hannah eyed Freddy skeptically, still not sure if he could be trusted. On one hand he had been kind and gentle with Lailah and Amenadiel before that. On the other hand, neither of those attributions were necessarily going to get him and Sam back from a demon hunt in one piece, and she had only seen the man hunt once.

As if reading her mind, Freddy said, "Look, I've been on the job since I was sixteen, and I'm good at what I do."

Folding her arms Hannah questioned, "What happened to Eric after we left?"

"Huh?" Freddy responded, not understanding what one had to do with the other.

"Did you kill him?" Hannah elaborated.

"No." Freddy responded seeming almost shocked, "I tossed out his half of everything, and left him dinged up in the field, and I the last I heard he was in a Jacksonville for drunken disorderly, assault and inciting the riot, which his mom called me up to tell me was my fault, same old story." After a beat he added, "In retrospect, Tyler, may he rest in peace, was the only decent thing to come out of that entire family."

"Tyler, was that his little brother?" Hannah asked.

"How do—" Freddy began.

Hannah ignored the inquiry, instead writing something on a piece of paper. "You'll find Sam here. Call him first. And if anything happens to him because of you, even some much as a scrapped his knee, I feed you your own entrails, is that understood?"

Freddy swallowed. "Yes." He agreed, nodding.

"Ah, you know I can still hear you?" Sam spoke up.

"Right." Hannah responded, beginning to text him the information. Then she realized, "Can you bring the boys in here, so I can explain this to them?"

"What about uh…." Sam began.

"I'm stepping away from the car." Hannah explained, doing so, "Just to be on the safe side."

Sam walked into the next room-he had stepped out to take the call, be looked back in every few seconds, where the children were playing with a tidily-winks sets made out of polished gray stones and dark blue splatterwear cup, thought it wasn't so much tidily-winks as it was taking turns throwing the stones into the cups, as they didn't know the rules of the game.

"Ah, guys." Sam said awkwardly, "Mommy and Daddy need to talk to you for a minute…."

Twenty minutes later, Serena Joy was pouring a mixture of oil, brown sugar, milk, shredded carrots, apple, coconut, and raisins, into a bowel where there was already mixture of unbleached all-purpose flour, whole-what flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, that she had made a well in to welcome the liquid mixture. She began stirring the mixture when her phone rang. She picked it up, holding it to her ear to her shoulder as she continued to stir. "Hello?"

"Hey, Serena," Sam's voice awkwardly came through the other end of the line, "It's Sam. We have a bit of an emergency here, and Reason's at work and I was hopping that maybe if you were off…you could watch the kids for a few hours?"

Serena Joy said nothing for a moment, looking down at the bowel in her hands. As much as hated to leave Sam hanging, today was _not_ a good day for unexpected babysitting. She had taken the whole day off to bake for her sister's booth at a craft fair for their joint profit, and she was setting up a _Facebook_ page for her baking business. Then she heard something in the background of the call. "Why do I hear crying?"

"Ah, it's actually more like sniffling at this point." Sam responded, looking over to the kids where while calmed down still had tears in their eyes or were, somewhat understandably, moping. "Yeah, we had to spring this on them, they did not take it well."

That was an understatement. The boys had been devastated upon hearing so unexpectedly that not only was Mommy not coming home, she wouldn't come home for a couple of days, and Daddy had to go for a while, too. Cas started crying, Dean threw a tantrum, and Maudie got upset because her friends were upset, Hannah started crying on the other end of the line because she felt guilty and didn't like seeing them/hearing them so upset anyway, it too a good twenty minutes before everyone was calmed down, and even now things weren't going too well.

Serena Joy sighed. She couldn't argue with that. "Bring them to me."

"No, I don't want you to go." Dean declared when Sam managed to get them all to Serena Joy's, wrapping himself around Sam's leg.

"Me neither!" Cas added, copying his brother.

"I know, I'm sorry, and I really don't want to leave you either but I really need to help Mommy." Sam replied, trying to pry Dean off his leg.

"Can't we help, too?" Cas suggested.

"Yeah." Dean agreed.

"This is really a job for adults." Sam insisted, finally getting Dean off, only for him to reattached himself as Sam went for Cas.

"You need a little help there?" Serena Joy answered.

"Yes, please." Sam responded desperately.

"Hey guys, how do you feel about making some cookies?" Serena Joy suggested.

Dean, who could still very much be reached through his stomach, turned to look at her. "Cookies?"

"Chocolate chip." Serena Joy elaborated enticingly.

"I don't likes chocolate chip." Cas declared, wrapping around tighter around Sam's leg, "I want Daddy!"

Dean looked to his father and Serena Joy know she was losing them both.

"Well, we can make other things too." Serena Joy said, "Shortbread, sugar cookies…. rose leaves?"

That got Cas' attention. He remembered helping with the rose leaves. He had like doing that, even if he just handed her things.

"But if you want help and maybe eat some, you have to let your dad go and stay here and be my baking minions." Serena Joy told them.

The boys looked at their father, then reluctantly let go of his legs.

"That's my boys." Sam declared, hugging them both, "Now be good banking minions for Miss Serena. I love you."

"We love you too." Dean agreed.

"Love too." Cas exclaimed.

And with that, Sam reluctantly left before they boys could get upset again.

Serena Joy set to work, mixing shorting, granulated and brown sugar, egg, and vanilla, before moving on to measuring out the flour. "So, minions," Serena Joy began, "Have you even heard of the dipping method?"

The little ones shook their head. "What that?" Castiel asked.

"First you dip the measuring cup into the flour," Serena Joy began, demonstrating, "Then you level it off," She did so with a thin spatula, "Then you pour it into a mixing bowl with the other ingredients." She poured it into a bowel. "Now, you want to give it a try?"

And so, each child took their turn at measuring a half cup. It was hit or miss, and everyone was covered in flour, but eventually they had the one and half cups needed, which Serena Joy then blended before letting the children pour in the chocolate chips. "I ever tell you how chocolate cookies were invented?"

"No." Maudie answered, the boys shaking their heads in agreement.

"Well, they first made at the Toll House Inn in 1938." Serena Joy explained, "A lady by the name of Ruth Graves Wakefield cut off semi-sweet chocolate and put them in the batter."

When Serena Joy finished the batter, the kids took turns putting spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet, which Serena Joy then put into the oven.

Meanwhile, Sam was standing in front of the Impala waiting for everyone he called who was a short distance away to show up. Because he was halfway to town, Freddy was the first one to arrive, which was rather awkward. For a moment the hunters just uncomfortably looked at each other without saying a word. At last Sam asked, "You Freddy?"

Freddy nodded. "You Sam?"

Sam nodded back.

"I wish I could say it was nice to meet you, but…" Freddy trailed off.

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "Me too."

Fortunately, Charlie and Tova arrived at the same time to save the men from the awkwardness.

"Charlie Bradbury, Tova Abramov." Sam introduced them, "Tova Abramov, Charlie Bradbury."

"Nice to meet you." Tova greeted, then addressed Sam, "So, is this everyone?"

"Yeah, it was all I could get on short notice." Sam explained, "So, according to my sources, there's five demons in there, possibly armed, not much in the way of booby traps. Now, let's see what we have in ways of weapons."

Back at Serena Joy's everyone was huddled over a large pan of butter.

"What's this for?" Cas asked.

"You've head shortbread before, right?" Serena Joy checked.

"Well, it called that because the main ingredient is shortening, which just a really fancy way of saying butter or margarine." Serena Joy explained, "I personally use butter, because I am your baker, not your doctor. Then, we mix this." She poured in a one fourth cup of sugar into the butter and mixed it thoroughly before adding to the flour. "Now, who wants to help me work this in?"

The kids worked the flour into the butter, first patting it then copying Serena Joy with a kneeing motions until it was dough which Serena Joy then put her refrigerator, before pulling out two rolls of dough, one-part brown, part white, the other tan.

Maudie's eyes lit up. "Carmel fridge cookies!"

"That's right." Serena Joy said, unwrapping the dough, "I like these because they can be mixed one day, sliced and baked the next." She cut off the ends of the dough, cut those in half and handed each of the half to the children, before eating a piece herself. Then she began to slice to the dough, "Which is why I have I have a roll of Cinnamon Slices, and Kaleidoscope cookies all ready to go."

Meanwhile, at the house where the demons had hold up, they had to kill two of them, one freaked out about the attack and smoaked out of its own free will, another had got away and Tova and Charlie were currently chasing one down across the property, and the other had a female demon tied up by her hands from the ceiling, Freddy and tossing holy water on her while Sam began the exoticism. " _Excorcizmus te, omnis inmundus, spiritis…"_

The girl writhed in pain. "You think it's gonna be that easy?" She challenged, "I got a very good reason, and a _very_ strong desire to stay topside. You don't know what's going on down there."

Freddy looked over to Sam and Charlie, worried and confused.

"Don't worry, it's only bad for demons." Sam assured him, then kept reading. " _…Voctem virturius…"_

Finally, the demon was expelled in a think foggy snake of black smoke, coming out of the host's mouth before disappearing into the either, and the victim's head went limp. Freddy reached out and put two fingers to her neck. "I got a pulse, but it's weak."

"Cut her down and get her to the hospital." Sam instructed, "We'll head after the last one."

Freddy did as he was instructed, running with the girl in his arms to the car. "Come one, come one, come on, stay with me." He breathed, putting her in the back of his car and covering her with a blanket before jumping in the driver's seat and high-tailing it out of there.

At Serena Joy's, as the sheets of refrigerator cookies were baking, and the others were ready to be put in the oven, the shortbread dough chilled and the toddlers were digging into the chocolate chip cookies, Serena Joy was mixing water, mayonnaise, and vanilla.

"Why are using to that?" Dean asked, "That's for sandwiches."

"Because," Serena Joy began, combining flour, sugar, cocoa and baking soda in a large bowel, "the mayonnaise makes the cake very moist, and once it's all mixed together, nobody can even taste it. It just tastes like chocolate." She began beating the two mixtures together.

Fascinated, the children left the cookies and went closer to watch. "Miss Serena how do you know all this stuff?" Maudie asked.

"Because I have loved baking ever since I was a little girl." Serena Joy explained, still beating the contents of the bowel, "So I practiced, I gathered recipes, read every cooking book and magazine known to man, watched at lot of _Martha Stewart_ and _Food Network_ —until I got very, very good at what I do."

"Miss Serena, why do you love baking so much?" Cas pipped up.

Serena Joy was quiet for a long moment, actually stopping her beating. "Well," She began finally, "It really started because I wanted make my enemies cry and vomit." After a beat she added, "I was a weird kid."

"Huh?" Cas responded, confused.

"You see, when I was little, I found part of this movie." Serena Joy explained, "This lady's boyfriend was marrying her sister and their mom was being a real jerk and making her help prepare the wedding dinner and she cried into the batter and at wedding when people ate the cake, they became overcome with sadness and cried until they puked." Serena Joy explained, "I, being about five, though this would be a cool power to have, but then I realized that even if I didn't have Tita's magical cooking abilities, but—I could take things that were just the dry, most dullness things you can imagine, and turn them into something wonderful. That there was almost a science to it. And, it's an actually a pretty good way to get some frustration out when you need it."

Later, after the kitchen had literally exploded with little round cookies studded with chocolate chips, large, perfectly symmetrical rounds in tan, brown and white, even green, solid buttery chunks of shortbread, solid brown square of shortbread that has been mixed with chocolate, circular shortbread fragrant with sage, square of brownies, round soft-looking sugar cookies, petal-shaped cookies decorated with red sugar. The children, now covered with flower and butter and bits of cocoa powder, were enjoying licking the bowels and spoon, Serena Joy put the chocolate mayonnaise cake in the oven and began to tell the children about jam cake.

"So, the story goes," She began, beating and butter, "That deep in Appalachia, where store-bought sugar was scarce…."

"What's Appalachia?" Maudie spoke up.

"What does scarce mean?" Cas asked.

"What does store bought mean?" Dean added.

"Appalachia is a place in the Tennessee mountains." Serena Joy explained, "Scarce means there's not a lot of it, and store-bought means something you can buy in at the store. "She added the first egg, "So cakes were often sweetened with homemade jams, filled with wild berries and mountain fruits. The payoff for this genius swap was rich dense cake layers with depts of flavors sugar alone can't deliver." Finished with the eggs, she began stirring flour, sugar and pumpkin spice, "So, how do feel about trying your hand at it?"

With the proper adult supervision, Dean added the flour mixture to the better mixture, alternating with mixing a buttermilk mixture. After each addition, Serena Joy would beat it at low speed. Once that was done, Cas stirred in the blackberry jam until it was smooth, and then Maudie stirred in walnuts and golden raisins. Serena Joy took the chocolate mayonnaise cake out, put the layers of jam cake in, and they all began working on the icing.

Meanwhile, Sam speed to the stop in front of the hospital, carefully dispoitting the formerly possessed man, who they had managed to saved, in front of the emergency room doors.

Freddy was just sneaking out when he saw them. "Hey, look at that."

Three doctors in a nurse ran out to get the men while Freddy got snuck out to Impala.

"The girl okay?" Sam asked.

"They got her stable." Freddy answered, "From what I could overhear they think she should pull through. I left her the number of a hunter I know who use to be shrink before a Rurgragu ate her sister. She still does some pro bono therapy for—special cases, if you know what I mean."

"That must come in handy." Charlie noted.

"I got things covered here, if you need to leave." Freddy hinted, "Call anyone?"

Charlie dropped another hint. "Retrieve anyone else?"

"Alright, I get the point." Sam agreed, "Thanks guys. And, um, thanks for coming."

"No problem." Freddy agreed, spatting the window before walking off.

Hannah was in a completely silent car. Lailah was an asleep, which worried her. Suddenly her phone rang. Pulling over to the side, she answered it. "Hey, Sam." Hannah greeted.

"Hey." Sam repeated, "I just wanted you know we got all the demons cleared out. They're either dead or back in Hell, we managed to save two of the host."

Hannah left out a relief breath. "Thank goodness." After a beat, she asked, "Are they…"

"One's stable and we just got the other one dropped off." Sam said.

"And the kids?" Hannah asked.

"I'm about to get them now." Sam assured her, "How's things on your end?"

"She's asleep." Hannah told him, "Her injuries were that bad. Please tell me you made things as painful as possible."

"Trust me, they've paid for it." Sam assured him, "Some still are."

"Good." Hannah said firmly, "Now, I'm sorry, but if I want to make good time I have to keep going. Go get out kids tell them I love them."

Serena Joy handed the packaged slice of jam cake to Maudie, who handed it to Cas, who handed it to Dean, who put in a cardboard box.

"I think this one is full, too." Dean declared.

"Thanks bud." Serena Joy responded, taking the box and putting it with the others they had accumulated.

"Can we make the pies now?" Dean asked eagerly.

Serena Joy chuckled. "In a couple more minute's sweetie. I just need to clear off a little more space."

Just then there was knock on the door. Serena Joy looked through the hole, then opened it up to let Reason in. "Hey baby girl."

"Mommy!" Maudie exclaimed, running to her mother and hugging her, transferring some of her mess to her mother. "Miss Serena taught us how to make cookies and cake and you can make cake with that mayonnaise stuff in and sometimes you can make people cry and puke!"

Reason gave her a questioning look, to which Serena Joy shot her a look back that said, _it makes sense in context._

"Well, that sounds amazing baby girl." Reason told her, "Are you ready to head out?"

"But Miss Serena was gonna start making pies." Maudie moaned.

Reason took a moment to think of the best way to handle this. "Well, if it's okay with Miss Serena we can stay until Mr. Sam goes to get the boys."

As if on cue, there was another knock at the door. Serena Joy repeated the process and opened a weary Sam in.

"Daddy!" Both boys exclaimed, running towards him, remembering how upset they had been by him leaving serval hours before, hugging him.

"Hey guys." Sam greeted wearily but happy, hugging them both, "Looks like you had a good time after all."

"Uh-huh." Cas conformed, as both boys nodded.

"Can we stay a little bit longer so we can help Miss Serena make pies?" Dean requested, "Please."

Sam laughed wearily. He was exhausted and dirty, but seeing Dean so excited, he could say no. "Sure, bud."

Sam and Reason sat in the living room for over an hour as Serena Joy with the children's assistance made a pie crust and filled it with applies, and pecans, then topped with a streusel topping then topped _that_ with Carmel ice team topping. Suddenly Sam found a piece thrusted in front of you.

"What's this?" Sam asked surprised.

"For you." Dean told him, "Comfort food."

"Dean I can't." Sam told him, "Miss Serena—"

"Can do with her pies what she likes." Serena Joy cut him off, "And with all we got done to day this isn't really going to affect my profit margin." After a beat she added, "Eat it, Winchester."

Sam took a bite and his mouth filled with many sweet flavors with extremely mild hints of tartness. And while it didn't really undo the damage of the day, he got what Dean meant by comfort food. "This great. Thanks guys. Hey, come on, get in on this."

And so, the Winchester boys all dug into one slice, while the McCarthy woman dug into their own.

Three days later, while Lailah was being healed, Hannah was standing one side of a street watching three boys, two who were clearly brothers, about fifteen and eleven, and another boy, also fifteen, playing the front yard of small white house.

"Rydell two makes a pass." The other fifteen-year-old narrated as the younger boy ran pass his brother with a football in his hands, "He's going for it—touch down!"

The boy spiked the ball and his brother picked him, putting him on his shoulders, chanting, "Tyler! Tyler!"

"They look happy, don't they?" A voice asked behind her.

Hannah whirled around and saw Amenadiel behind her.

"He's Eric's brother." Ami explained walking up to her, "He was killed by a Windego on camping trip about a year after this. He went out to relieve himself and then…. all Hell broke loose." After a beat she explained, "I've snuck in here a couple times, I just—I wanted to see him after hearing about him from Freddy." She turned to look at Hannah, "But why are you here?"

"I ran into him when, I can come across the angel I just brought back." Hannah explained, "He volunteered to help deal with the demons. Well, not alone obviously, but—he mentioned Tyler and something made me—made me want come here."

"How is he?" Ami asked.

"He seems to be doing well." Hannah assured her, "Eric, not so much. He apparently got into some sort of bar fight and wound up in jail." They both watched the scene for a moment, then Hannah declared, "He was—different with him."

"Tyler was the only one Eric ever loved." Ami responded.

As Hannah walked through the halls after leaving Tyler's Heaven, she was greeted by Flagstaff and small group of other angels Hannah had met on Earth. "What's going on?" Hannah asked, asked, trying not to appear too panicked.

"We just—need to talk for a moment." Flagstaff told her.

"Is something wrong?" Hannah questioned, trying to remain calm.

"No, it's just, some of us-we're worried about you." Flagstaff finally got out, "It's just—you're spending most of your time on Earth, and we hardly hear from you anymore, and you were so upset when you brought Lailah in it seemed—that something was troubling you."

"I just encountered one of our sisters who had been brutally tortured for no reason." Hannah retorted, "Of course I was troubled. As for how much time I spend on Earth—North America is a big land mass. These things take time. Speaking of which, if Lailah's squared away, I need to go."

The angels let her go without saying another word, and Hannah left through the door, getting into the Lincoln. She dried three blocks before pulling over. She slowly opened the glove box, put on her necklace, then her rings, then pulled out the phone and hit Sam's speed dial. "It's done, Sam."

Finally, after almost a week on the road, Hannah nearly collapsed as she arrived at the bunker.

"Mommy!" The boys screamed running towards her and throwing themselves on her.

"Hello my sweet, sweet boys." Hannah greeted them, returning their embraces, "I missed you so, so much."

Suddenly the boys started to try to pull her to her feet. "Come, Mommy!" Cas ordered, while Dean was saying, "Come, come, come!"

"We have something to show you." Cas explained.

They managed to drag their mother into the kitchen where she was greeted by three trays of cookies. Half and half slices, chocolate chip, and sugar cookies.

"What is this?" Hannah asked.

"The boys thought you sounded tired on the phone and were in need of comfort food." Sam explained, "It's not bad, try one."

Hannah picked up a half and half slice and put it her mouth. "Mmm, this is actually good. How did you two do this?" She doubted two three-year-olds had done this on their own.

"Daddy helped." Cas explained.

"If he tried really hard, he'll be a good baking minion someday." Dean complemented, causing both parents to laugh.


	60. Zoo

Sam circled the parking lot again, trying to find a spot and wondering once again if this was the best idea.

Even though the kids seemed relatively fine about the Lilah incident, Sam and Hannah still wanted to try to make it up to them, so Sam found a zoo that was about three-and-a-half-hour drive from their house and decided to take the boys and make a day of it.

"I think there's one there." Hannah said, pointing out a parting spot.

Sam pulled in and put the car in park, checking out the boys, who were both asleep in the back seat. "Hey guys?" He called out softly.

The boys didn't stir.

"I'll get them, you get the supplies." Hannah instructed, stepping out of the Impala.

The supplies consisted of the leashes, snacks and water to avoid the overpriced stands, pull ups and a first aid kit because first both parents were a little nervous.

Unbeknownst to the Winchesters, in a different section of the zoo parking lot, a blue nova pulled into a spot. "Victory!" Serena Joy exclaimed, putting the car in park then raising her hands in the air.

Reason thought that was a little overdramatic, but wasn't about to say anything.

The Winchester called and asked if she wanted them to take Maudie or to take Maudie herself and come with them. She mentioned off-hand to Serena Joy who then got the idea of them all going together and talked Reason into it. (They had no idea they and the Winchesters were at the same zoo.)

As Reason put Maudie in her harness, Maudie was gripping to her little white seal, in one hand, Dana in the other, and was trying to grab a hold of Nessie. "Maudie, baby, you can't bring all those toys with you."

"Why not?" Maudie asked.

"Because you could lose them." Reason explained.

"No, I want." Maudie insisted.

"Baby, you can barely keep hold of them now." Reason told her, still trying to use logic.

"Can't we put them in something?" Maudie requested.

"Hey, not to interfere where I have no business, but I have an idea for a compromise." Serena Joy called out, "You got any room of that back pack of yours, Mom?"

Reason took her backpack off and looked through it. She had snacks, for the same reasons the Winchesters did, pull ups, her change purse that still served as a wallet, a couple of smaller foil-colored bags Serena Joy asked her to sash in there; there might actually be room to pull this off.

In yet another section of the zoo parking lot, not knowing either family's plans, Rawls and Elsbeth were helping the girls out of the minivan, Elsbeth stopping Dory when she got out with her fawn. "Sweetie, no, if we take that in with us, you'd have to hold it all day, or you'll lose it."

Dory looked down at the fawn sadly, then sat it down in the seat looking like she was about to cry.

"Can't it wear a harness, too?" Scarlett spoke up.

Elsbeth's face lit up. "Oh, Scarlett Anne, you are a genius."

Five minutes later, they had an older, plain harness, secured around the fawn and Elsbeth slipped the leash on her wrist, right over Dory's leash, like when Vanessa and Scarlett were briefly at the age where they both wore up.

"Alright," Rawls spoke up, herding the girls, "Let's get this show on the road!"

Now inside the gates of the zoo, Sam and Hannah were examining the map, trying to figure out which route to take.

"Okay, we take a right to Primate Canyon and off to the side of there's something called animals of the night." Sam worked out, "If we go to the right there's the big cat area and the African Veldt and there's the reptile house in between them."

"You're sure the enclosures are secure, right?" Hannah asked, looking over the map.

"Well, I didn't look up the safety inspection records, but—" Sam began.

That was when a tram decorated with brightly colored sioluetes of animals pulled into a station.

The adults exchanged looks, an idea forming in their minds.

That was how the family of four wound up the better part of a seat in the middle of the tram, that was starting with the bit cat area.

"Now we are entering Big Cat Country." A woman's voice came through the speaker, "If you look to left you can see all three of the lions in our mini-pride, which consist of two females, Chunki and Akeelah, and their friend Dwyer. Now, a lion's roar can be heard from up to five miles away."

"Roar!" Dean shouted, trying to climb over Cas, who, like himself was seated between their parents.

"Dean, stay on you behind, please." Sam said, gently grabbing Dean and setting him back down.

In the back of the tram, the Rawls' family were taking up a whole tram seat, deciding that with three kids it would be more efficient to see most of the zoo by tram, and then work back to the inside exhibits.

"Look, sweetie, there's lions!" Elsbeth said, maybe a little too brightly, pointing at the lions.

"Why are they're too girls, but only one boy?" Scarlet asked, "Doesn't he get lonely?"

"Trust me, I'm pretty sure the lion likes it that way." Rawls commented, earning his spat on the arm from Elsbeth, "What was that for?"

"You know what it was for." Elsbeth responded.

Meanwhile, Reason and Serena had forgone the tram, but also started with Big Cat Country, and were currently looking at the cheetah enclosure.

"It's so pretty!" Maudie exclaimed, enthralled by the spots. Then she saw something that made her face furrow in confusion. "What's that bunny doing in there?"

Reason saw to her alarm that there was in fact a little white rabbit by a bush in the enclosure. And she had a pretty good idea what it was there for.

"We'll let someone know it's lost." Serena Joy lied, "Hey, check out that over there." She led them over to the red panada enclosure.

Up in the trees, there could be seen a creature that didn't look unlike a raccoon, but its fur was deep red, and its tail was round.

"Mama fox!" Mama exclaimed, happily.

"Actually, this a red panada." Reason informed her, beginning to read from the plat in front of exhibit, "Also known as the lesser panda, the red bear-cat, and the red-cat bear."

"Or Mama fox!" Maudie insisted.

Reason laughed. "Alight, or Mama fox."

"And now are entering the African Veldt." The announcer was saying later on, as the left Big Cat Country, "Home to our elephants, Giraffes, Zebras, Grant's Gazelles, Ostrich, Scimitar-Horned Oryx and Bongos."

"Daddy what's a Veldt?" Cas asked.

"What's a Bongo?" Dean added.

"A Veldt is like a big flat grassy area." Sam explained, "And Bongo is—is-ah, probably those things over there." He pointed to group of creatures that looked like some sort of gazelle, brown, decorated with black spots on their front legs and snot, thing white stripes of their back. They were all huddled on by bushes or under trees.

However, the tram driver was focused on another animal. "On the right you can see our elephants, we have four females, and to the side you can see the baby of the heard, Bambi." She was pronounced Bom-bee.

"Sam," Hannah spoke up, "Do those people by the elephants look familiar to you?"

"Ah, you'll have to be more spefic hon." Sam stated, "There's like five different groups over there."

One of the groups was, in fact, Reason, Serena Joy and Maudie, who was leaned on the railing. "They're so big!" The toddler, declared, amazed, "They're like giants!"

That was when Reason noticed Bambi. "Maudie, look, there's a baby elephant."

Feeling playful, Serena Joy started marching around in an exaggerating fashion, going, "Hup, two, three, four. Keep it up two, three four. Hup, two three four." She picked Maudie up, putting her on her shoulders and causing the little girl to giggle, "Keep it up two three four. Company sound off! Oh, the aim of our portal, is a question rather droll…"

Reason good naturedly rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"Mama, can we come back and look at the elephants more later." Vanessa asked, "Please?"

"Sure, Nessa." Elsbeth agreed, as it was on the way anyway.

Dory peaked out from behind the tram seat. There was something familiar about the two big people further up, but she wasn't sure what. And why were they sitting so far apart?

"And as we leave the Veldt and enter the River Edge, you can see our reptile house over there, home to snakes and frogs and as you can see outside, an American Alligator."

"Oh, let's go in there!" Dean exclaimed, trying to climb over Cas again.

"We will, bud, later." Sam said, pulling him back down again.

"Aww." Dean whined.

However, before he could wallow in it too long, a kid behind them called out, "Daddy, look at the bears!"

In fact, right at the opening of the exhibit, there were three different bear enclosures, one for grizzly bear, black bears across from that, and then at least one polar bear, lodging by an icy pool.

Meanwhile, Maudie had buried herself into her mother's chest, scared by the alligator. "Mommy, I don't want to go in there."

"There'd be more than just alligators in there, baby." Reason told her, "They'll be salamanders and froggies—"

"No, it's too scary." Maudie insisted, "I don't wanna."

"Alright, we don't have to." Reason agreed, not wanting to cause her any unesscary discomfort, "Why don't we go look at the bears?"

Maudie nodded as she was carried away. Lifting up her head she saw something that got her attention more. "Seals!"

Reason turned her to find not a seal enclosure, bit a _sea lion_ enclosure, five sea lions with just their heads above water, playing with a red plastic ball like some kind of cartoon.

"Let me guess, that's where you want to go next?" Reason responded.

Maudie nodded, grinning as Reason carried her that way.

Back on the tram, Dory could stand it no longer and slid off the seat, walking up two the big people in the center of the tram.

"And if you look over to the left, you'll see our timber wolves…" The tram conductor was saying.

As they other peered over to see the wolves, as their enclosure was more of a pit, Elsbeth realized she could feel a pull on the harness. She looked over to see Dory walking down the lone between the tram rows.

"Whoa, what are you doing, baby sis?" Elsbeth asked, getting up to try to follow her and reign her in.

As she got closer, she saw two boys in between the big people were two boys about her age. Boys that she recognized.

"Cas!" She exclaimed, happily, running up to the seat, "Cas!"

"Sweetie, that's not…" Elsbeth began, when her voice trailed off, as all the family's heads turned at the sound of someone calling the name of one of their number, "We have to stop meeting like this."

Cas scrambled down from his seat, getting down and running to Dory and hugging her. "Did you see the bears?!"

Dory nodded.

"I like the bears." Cas told her, "They look really fluffy."

By the time the tram reached the Animal Farm and Petting Zoo exhibit, the families were filling up two seats in the middle.

"Sorry about intruding on your family time." Rawls apologized to Sam.

"I was about to apologize to you." Sam told him.

"Well, between you and me." Rawls said, in a lower voice, "I love my girls, but I'm grateful for a little testosterone raft in the middle of estrogen ocean. "

Sam laughed, good and hard.

"Ah, I think you got a little runaway." Rawls spoke up, suddenly.

Sam had a feeling he knew who it was. Sure enough, Dean was trying to reach out of the tram to the goat pen. "We'll come back for you to play with the goats." Sam told him, pulling back in, "But you need to stay in the tram for the rest of us."

"Okay." Dean agreed, sitting back down, "But can I tell Mr. Rawls something?"

"Sure." Sam said, not sure if this was good idea, but held Dean up so they could speak.

"My friend Maudie has a goat." Dean told him, "Her name is Fred."

"Her?" Rawls asked.

"Maudie says it's a girl, but I don't think so." Dean explained.

Sam mouthed _There's nothing down there._

Meanwhile, Reason and her bunch had not reach the petting zoo yet, and between the two exhibits was penguin and puffin coast, a building that was a rather welcome reprieve from the heat, as it was well air condition to accommodate its inhabits, with high glass walls filled with cold water which the pueigns sawm in, topped with maniufacired icy chunks.

On top of one of those chucks stood an emperor penguin, close enough to Reason to touch, which Maudie tried to do, attempting to climb up the side of the glass.

"Maudie, leave the penguin alone." Reason told her, "How would you like it if someone came into our house and tried to touch you?"

Maudie pulled back. "Sorry penguin."

"Here, though." Reason offered, picking her up so she could get a slightly better view.

That was when a in short sleeved green ginnam dress behind Serena Joy tapped her on the shoulder. "She is so adorable."

"Um…thanks?" Serena Joy responded, startled and somewhat confused.

"I'm sorry, I know this is none of my business, but she looks do much like your partner, did you use a donor?" The woman kept on.

"Did we— "Serena Joy began, then it dawned on her, "Oh, no, we're not—together." After a beat she added, "Not that's there's anything wrong with that."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed." The woman replied.

They walked in l awkward silence, then Serena Joy asked, "I know it's none of my business, but, ah, are you, um, looking at having a baby?"

"Not me, I'm still looking for Miss Right." The woman answered, but, ah, my brother and his wife, she's over there with my sister's son, they're trying to have a kid, but they've um, been having issues. He's open to adoption, but she still wants the whole—experience of being pregnant."

"Again, none of my business, but have they considered some sort of compromise like—embryo adoption?" Serena Joy suggested.

"What?" The woman questioned.

"Okay, you know how during fertility treatments they create more embryos then they actually try to put in?" Serena Joy explained, "Well, they actually have places were couples can donate the embryos they don't want and put them up for adoption. As long as she can carry a kid, I don't see any reason why she wouldn't be able to carry an embryo, though I'm not an exporter on this subject."

"As the very least it's something to think about." The woman replied, "I just gave to find a way to bring it up without revealing I've been airing their dirty laundry."

That was when Maudie's voice called out, "Miss Serena, they got penguins with giant beaks that red and orange and—"

"That's my cue, I got to go." Serena Joy said, before running off to the puffins.

After getting off the tram at the end of Primate Canyon, the two families went to a café in the exhibit for lunch. Even with the snacks, they couldn't get out of one meal at the mercy of attraction monopolies.

As they sat at the booth they found, Sam felt a tugging on his hair. He turned around, only to find no one there. He turned back around, only for it to happen again. He whirled back around, this time to find a baby girl roughly about maybe one, two years of age with find blonde hair, staring at him with wide blue eyes.

"Oh, hi, there." Sam said startled, "I'm sorry, little girl, but can you, um, please stop that."

"Is she bothering you, sir?" A woman by her, with wavy dark hair spoke up.

"Well, not exactly, but I think she's the source of the tugging I've been feeling." Sam explained.

"I'm sorry, I'll keep a better eye on her, cut her off at the past." The woman, presumably the girl's mother, said, picking up her daughter and sitting her down.

That was when Sam noticed that the girl one the other side of her looked around Dean and Cas' age. "Hey, sorry, but, how old are they?'

"Bethany's two and Ada's one." The woman answered, "Your little guys?"

"Ah, two." Sam replied, "I actually wasn't sure about making the trip because they probably wouldn't remember it."

The mom smiled at him. "You're never too young for orangutans."

Meanwhile, Reason and Serena Joy were sitting by the petting zoo, also having launch, where Serena Joy reveal what was in those foil packages.

They were left over from the dinner, hotdogs, polish sausages and fries that Serena Joy had managed to sneak in.

"Mommy, do these comes from pigs, like the ones we saw today?" Maudie asked.

Reason froze, a hot dog halfway to her mouth.

"Ah, actually they're made out of a lot of things." Serena Joy spoke up.

"Like that?" Maudie asked.

Now Serena Joy froze. Changing the subject, she said, "You know I hear in a few minutes, they're going to milk a cow, so you might want to eat up so we can see that."

When the time came, the Winchesters and Rawls were also at the cow milking, watching as a wiry young man explained how everything worked, and asked for volunteers to come up.

"Mommy, can we milk the cow?" Dean asked.

"Sure, little one." Hannah said, shitting him down and walking him up to the line. Cas however, held back.

"Sam—" Hannah began.

"It's alright, I got him." Sam assured her.

However, when Cas saw his friends getting in line, he began to walk in that direction.

"Change your mind?" Sam asked, "Oh, okay."

By chance Hannah and Dean got in line behind Reason and Maudie. "Reason?" Hannah asked, which got her attention.

Reason turned around. "Oh. I didn't know you were going to _this_ zoo."

"What got you to change your mind?" Hannah asked.

"Serena Joy talked me into it, she's over there." Reason explained.

In the crowd, Serena Joy also realized they had some friends at the zoo and snuck up behind her boy friend. "Guess who?"

Rawls turned around to see Serena Joy standing behind her and broke into a smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Spending a day with the girls." Serena Joy answered, "You?"

"Same." Rawls answered, leaning in for a kiss.

By that point they hand reached the front of the line. "Come up, sweetie." The speaker encored her, helping her wrap her hand around the utter.

"Is this gonna hurt the cow?" Maudie asked.

"No, it's, ah, actually gonna make the cow feel better." The speaker told her.

Encouraged by that Maudie squeezed the utter and the milk went from the utter into the machine.

They stayed at the petting zoo longer than they did the other parts as there was lots to do there.

"Sam, where's Cas?" Hannah asked nervously, lowering in here phone.

"Don't worry, I'm looking right at him." Sam said as she crouched in front of the tunnel that lead to the clear plastic bubbles in the parrie dog enclosure.

"Come on, Cas!" Dean called out, encouringly, "You can see all the parrie doggies!"

"It's alright, buddy." Sam assures her, "I'll be right with you the whole time."

With that encouragement, Cas climbed up into the bubble. It was like he was one of the parrie dogs. Across the way, he caught sight of his mother. "Hi, Mommy!"

"Hi, little one!" Hannah responded, taking the picture.

Elsewhere in the zoo in large goat pin, dozens of baby goats were practically climbing over each other to get to the people in the pins holding bottes.

"Sam, we can't." Hannah protestested drawing the children to her.

"But Vanessa and Scarlet are doing it!" Dean protested.

"Vanessa and Scarlet are bigger than you and stand a better chance against those hoards." Hannah reasoned.

To make matters worse, Maudie, attached to Reason, ran up to Sam with a bottle full of milk. "Mr. Sam, do you want to feed the goats with me?"

"Ah, how about I help you feed Fred some time at home." Sam offered.

"See, Maudie's our size and she gets to do it." Dean protested.

Hannah was about to respond when she saw that some of the parents with smaller children where letting them kids feed the baby goats from the outside of the pen. _Well, maybe that could work._

Rawls kept charge of Vanessa in Scarlet, who were inside the gate, surrounded by practically rapid goats.

"Aah!" Vanessa yelped, being nearly toppled over, but was caught by her uncle.

At the gate, Maudie was having the time of her life. "They're so cute!" She exclaimed, as one goat stuck its head out to suckle the bottle.

Cas and Dory, however, where not big friends of the excitable creatures, Cas rearing back as Dory started to cry.

"It's okay, sweetie, it's okay." Elsbeth soothed, picking Dory up. "Guys, I'm gonna take her the picnic table over there, if Benny wants to know, tell him where I am?"

"Of course." Hannah assured her.

Worried about Cas, Sam crouched down. "Hey, buddy, do you need to sit down, too?"

"No." Cas shook his head, determined to be brave. The goats were just really excited and friendly. Finally getting up his nerve he stuck the bottle at one goat, who managed to get the bottle in his mouth. While he was doing that, another baby goat stuck out its head and bit Coat. Seeing his security blanket being mauled, Cas pulled on the coat, trying to get it away. "No!" He shouted, tears forming in his eyes.

"Give back Coat you big meanie!" Dean shouted, marching up and grabbing the trench coat, "Meanie, goat!"

Hannah grabbed the goat's head and Sam managed to pry the garment free. "Why don't I hold Coat until you guys this done, okay?"

After the petting zoo, they wound up at the reptile house, which Maudie found more to her liking then she thought she would, piratically the bright blue of azure poison dart frog, which she keeps coming back to.

"Is that frog you're favorite thing here?" Sam quipped, as she brought him over to show him again.

"Uh-huh." Maudie nodded.

Hannah was examining a rattle snake when Dean said, "Mommy, look they have an alien!"

Behind one of the glass enclosures, was a grayish blue creature with fringed trendils around its head. She could see why her son had mistaken it for a creature from another world.

"Actually, little one, this is something called an Axolotl." Hannah read, "It says here it's rare types of salamander never truly grow up and leave their larval creatures behind. They're found in fresh water creatures in central Mexico.

Near the Axolotl Elsbeth was showing her girls a turtle, while a zoo keeper—at least Rawls hoped it was a zoo keeper otherwise they needed to tighten up security—had a boa or a phyton of some kind out to show the patrons. A boa or phyton that was perilously close to Elsbeth, who was terrified of snakes.

"Ah, Elsbeth," Rawls began slowly, "You might want to move." He actually nudged her out of the way.

One of the last stops they made was to the Creatures of The Night Exhibit, where all the children, even Venessa, clung to their parents, uneasy in the dark.

"Maudie, look there." Reason said, pointing to enclosure was where a Wombat was curled up in a tin.

"That's so cute!" Vanessa exclaimed, running up to it. "What is it?!"

"It says it's a Wombat." Reason told her.

Adjacent to the Wombat there was a class window containing what looked like hundreds of bats flying every which way.

All the toddlers recoiled at the sight, Dean and Cas climbing to their mother's legs, Maudie hiding behind Sam and Dory clutching her deer.

"It's okay." Sam soothed, "The bats aren't going to hurt you. They're behind glass and they can't get to you. And they're minding their own business see?"

Maudie peered out, and saw that the bats couldn't care less about them.

Getting brave, Dean unlatched and went towards the bats. "They're tiny."

"Yeah, bats—they're not as big as you'd think they'd be." Sam commented.

Dean smiled, amazed.

Serena Joy, however, took a few steps back, dread filling her. She knew bats weren't really that dangerous, but still, they terrified her.

Suddenly, she felt a hand slip into his. "Don't worry." Rawls whispered, "I won't let them hurt you."

The last place they went before they left was the gift shop. All the parents had already cautioned the children that they could each only get one thing. The kids carefully went through the isle examining the offering of stuffed toys and novelty candy and t-shirts and neckless. To their credit, they were relatively well behaved, only having to be told slow down or settle down a couple of times.

"Mommy," Maudie said, pulling on her pants' leg. "Over here."

Reason let herself be led to stand covering with puegin-related merchandise. Figurines, mugs, shot glasses, even a road sign that read _Penguin Crossing_ with a picture of peuign on it. "What do you want, sweetie?"

"I don't know." Maudie admitted, "I just know I want a peuign thing."

Dean had an alligator snapper toy in one hand, but kept looking back at the candy isle, particularly candy that looked like it had bugs in it.

"I'se trying to decide." Dean declared an almost anguished look on his face.

Unable to take it anymore, Hannah picked up a pack of the candy. "You know what, I think I'm doing to get a packet of these, which I will share with whomever, I choose."

"Can you choose me, too Mommy?" Cas asked, carrying a brown sloth that was almost the length of his body.

Hannah smiled. "Of course, little one."

In the end Dean got his alligator snapper toy, Cas got a snapper toy as well except his a parrot, Maudie got, of all things a peugin mug, Vanessa got stuffed brown sloth, Scarlet a stuffed orangutan, and Dory a stuffed red panada.

They walked out to the parking lot where they all began to go their separate ways, the kids hugging in some of the adults even embracing, Serena Joy kissing Rawls. "Call me when you get back?" Rawls requested.

"Only if you call me too." Serena Joy offered.

"Deal." Rawls agreed.

As they all walked away, Sam and Hannah each picked up a boy. "Daddy, can we do this again some time." Dean asked.

"Sure, bud." Sam agreed, "Sure thing."


	61. Child Support

Reason took a large plastic jar with the bottom codded with money at the bottom and poured the money out onto the table and started to organize the bills.

After she got GED Reason pulled one of the empty jumbo size mayo jars out of the trash can, cleaned up and turned it into her collage fund. She had scrapped out a few and was hoping to get everything she needed together, including the 33,000 in time to start at the spring semester.

Considering right now she only had 192 dollars and fifty cents saved up, she wasn't sure if she was going to make it.

That was when Maudie walked in from the bedroom, carrying her ark bank.

"Maudie, please don't bring all your toys in here." Reason ordered gently, but with a little more exasperation than she meant.

"But it's for you." Maudie informed her.

Reason got up and went to her daughter then sat down across from her. "What do you mean, for me?"

"For school." Maudie answered.

Reason's heart swelled. "No, baby girl, that's your money, you keep it." Then she pulled her into a hug, "But that is so sweet."

That was when there a knock on the door. Maudie began to run to the door but Reason pulled her back. "Let Mommy see who that is." She wasn't to drop Maudie off for a few hours, no one was meeting for anything, so she had no clue who could possibly be at the door.

Reason peaked out and didn't see anyone, but it looked something had been left at the door. She opened the door to see what it was in her mouth opened. "What the—"

In front of her door was a massive canvas hamper, sourrnded by large metal basket of deep red apples, another metal basket of eggs, both white and brown, something several parcels of some kind wrapped in brown paper, packages of pull-ups, two of those huge burlap bags of rice, and stuffed Minnie Mouse that was as big as Maudie. Tapped to the hamper was note that read _Back Child Support._

"Hello?" Reason called out, still processing what was happening. That was when she Fred tied to her post in the yard knocked out cold. Suddenly terrified, Reason slammed the door, picked up the stick in one and her phone with the other. "Sam? Can you come out here, please…."

Sam came out and examined the supplies that had been left on the ground, and searched the area, only to find whoever had left the offerings had already fled the area.

"Well, whoever they're gone now." Sam said, " Fred's okay. The hamper and packages are just—self-heating meal cans, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, blankets, towels." He looked at the note. "'Back Child Support'. Do you think this could be your ex? You know, the one who got your pregnant?"

"You mean the ex who insisted Maudie wasn't his and told you—" Reason's voice trailed off for a minute, "Well, you know." Even though Maudie was in playing the bathroom she couldn't bring herself to say the word under the same roof as her little girl. "Besides, how would he be able to track me down all the way to here?" She ran her fingers through her hair, panicking.

"Uh, Reason, are you okay?" Sam asked.

"No." Reason practically snapped," No, and I am most definitely _not_ okay. There's freak leaving extravagant gifts on my door step, knocking out my goat, and I don't know who they are, or what they want or if they're crazy or if they're armed—" She started shaking she was so petrified.

Sam knew what had to do. "Alright, just get your things, get Maudie's things, anything you can't do without, you can stay with us until we figure this out."

"Sam, I can't—" Reason began.

"Yes, you can." Sam cut her off, "You're right, it's not safe out here until we know what this." The trailer was isolated, very few actually even knew it was back there, and Reason had really had self-defense wise was a limited ability for magic and a large stick. He couldn't in good concise leave her and her small child out there with possible nut job.

Reason knew that as well. "I'll be a few minutes; you probably call Sam and clear this with her. And Sam? Thank you."

By time Reason had to be at work, Maudie was settled in at the bunker, playing with her friends while Sam was doing a closer examination of what had been left at the trailer, looking for any clues as to where it might have come from.

When the children had gone down for their nap, Hannah went to check up on him. "Any luck?" She walked, walking to the table where Sam was at his lap top out.

"The cans can be bought online and about a dozen stores, the pull ups and most of the toiletries could've come from anywhere, there's no way to trace it." Sam admitted, "But get this, the blankets, come from one of those catalogues, I got Charlie trying to get me the records of everyone who received one, and the soap is a small batch, high end brand made with like, lavender, honey, cream, only a few stores in the area sell it. I just got a list of stores, I'm gonna drive out, shake a few trees, anyone who buys a pound at a time has to stand out. You got things where for a few hours?"

Hannah nodded.

Sam got up and went for his coat. "And maybe—maybe you could pick up Reason when her shift is over if I'm not back? I don't—I don't feel comfortable letting her walk on the side of the road with this going on."

"You realized they left food right, not a bomb?" Hannah pointed out.

"But what if that food had been tampered with?" Sam pointed out, "Or what if whoever left it had attacked Reason when she stepped out to see what it was? What if had just been a lure to rob her, or worst? We still have no clue what this is. "

Hannah knew he was right. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she gets here safely."

Around eleven that night, Hannah was watching the children sleep when there was knock at the door. She filched, but went to get it, assuming that it must be Serena Joy, who had called early to tell her that she'd be bringing Reason after the bus girl made the mistake of telling her what happened. After checking to make sure it was actually them, she let them in. "Thank you so much Serena."

"Hey, no problem." Serena Joy assured her, then leaned in close, "Look out for her, okay?"

Hannah nodded in agreement. "Please be careful tonight."

"Me?" Serena Joy quipped, "When am ever _not_ careful?" Then she turned to her best friend and hugged her, sticking something in her hand. "See you tomorrow, kid." Letting she continued, "Sorry, I can't stay longer, but, ah, I have pies to bake and then I need some sleep before we do this all over again." Then she walked back out the door.

Hannah immediately noticed the black plastic object in Reason's hand. "What is that?"

"A taser." Reason answered, "She's been trying to get me to take it all day." After a beat she asked. "How's Maudie?"

"Doesn't even know what happened." Hannah answered, leading Reason where she knew she wanted to go, "She's asleep now."

That was when suddenly there was wailing from the boys' room.

The women immediately took off running into the room to see Maudie lying on her pallet, crying. Reason immediately fell now next to her. "Baby, baby, what's wrong, what happened?!"

"Bad dream." Maudie sniffled.

"Oh, come here, come here." She soothed, gathering up Maudie in her lap and gently rocked her back and forth, "It's alright, you're safe. Mommy's here now."

"Bad guys gotted me." Maudie mumbled and Reason felt something like a stab to her gut. She wanted to protect her child, but she couldn't protect her from her mind.

"Maudie, no one is gonna get you." Reason assured the child, "You know Mommy would do _anything_ to keep you safe. And so, would Mister Sam and Miss Hannah and Miss Serena."

That was when the boys started to wake up. "What's a-going on?" Dean asked, half asleep.

"Nothing, little one." Hannah said, going to tend to her own children as Reason seemed to have things under control, "Just go back to sleep."

Reason had got Maudie mostly calmed down at that point. "Stay?" Maudie requested.

"Sure thing, baby girl." Reason said, tucking her daughter back in, "I'll stay."

Meanwhile, Dean got out of his bed and before he could put back in the bed by his mother, put his bear by Maudie. Cas got out of the bed and went over to the toy box, pulling out Domino. Between the two of them, soon Maudie was surrounded by the combined stuffed toys of all three children, cheered up and lulled back to sleep

The next day, Sam and Charlie, who had come down to help where at the last store in the area that sold the soaps. If this didn't pan out, it was dead end.

"Yeah, we actually did have someone buy us out last week." The salesman told them.

"Can you tell us about them?" Sam requested, "What exactly happened?"

"A couple of kids came up with our whole stock and bought it all in cash." The salesman answered.

"I guess that means no credit card records." Charlie spoke up.

"No, but we cot the video camera if you got the warrant." The Salesman offered.

Two hours and fake warrant later, Reason was staring at a black and white still of young woman and a girl about thirteen maybe. The thirteen-year-old she didn't recognize, but she was shocked to find she knew who the young woman was immediately.

"I take that means you know her." Sam said, upon seeing the slack-jawed look.

Reason nodded. "Avery—"

"Avery Bennet." Charlie accidently cut her off, walking in with her own lap top, "Turned twenty in July, student at Mizzou majoring in business until dropped all her classes for the fall and dropped off the map at the start of the summer break. Also, what I got –"

"My best friend." Reason cut her off, "We've known each other since we were kids, but I haven't seen her since—"

"About that," Charlie began, crouching down next to her, "That's not the only thing I found. Reason, are you aware that you've been legally declared missing since 2011?"

"What?!" Reason balked, not processing for a moment, as Sam and Hannah both got stricken looks.

Charlie turned the lap top around revealing a _Facebook_ Page with Reason's last school picture on it, and the words, _please remember Reason McCarthy._

Reason was at a loss for words for a moment and when she finally found them again, what came out was, "I…I don't understand. I'm not missing. I _ran away_ because I didn't want anyone to know I was pregnant."

"I have some bad news about that." Charlie said, trying ease her into the next series of revelations, "Apparently after you didn't come home, Avery spilled everything to your parents _after_ they filled a missing person's report. Considering you didn't have a history of running away, never been in trouble, never been a displine problem, the police decided they didn't want to be the next cops that let a kid a get murdered because they didn't take their disappearance seriously. After Avery dropped that bombshell, Kit was taken in for questioning four times, they couldn't get anything on him, but if some comments on a separate local _topics_ board half the town took his eventual dropping out of the collage, leaving town and slipping into ammonify no one seems to know where as an admission of guilt. "

"Oh God," Reason moaned, running her hands through her hair, "What did I do?"

Hannah knelt down in front of her. "Reason, look at me. Look at me." When she did, the angel continued, "Admittedly, you didn't think it through, but no could have anticipated thing spiraling out _that_ much. At least now we know, who it is, and she's not here to hurt you." After a beat he added. "Probably." Hannah had no clue how Avery felt about her brother being labeled a murder.

"Charlie, does anything you found have any way to contact Avery?" Sam spoke up, figuring that would be the best way to actually _find_ her.

"I found a couple of cell phone numbers, but I don't know if they still work." Charlie answered.

"Only one way to find out." Reason spoke up softly.

Reason stared down at the phone in her hand, sitting at the table, but herself. She had asked for privacy, so the others had gone to check on the kids, who were starting to get active again anyway. What was she going to say? Swallowing, she dialed one of the numbers.

After three rings, the line was picked up. "Hello?"

"Ah, Hi, Aves." Reason rasped, "So, um, I'm not dead…"

"Yeah, I know." Avery said into the phone, "Did you, um, get the stuff I left you?"

"Yeah," Reason responded finding her voice finally, "But what was with the ding doing ditch routine? You scared me half to death! We haven't been home in two days, we've been staying with a friend so we don't get ax murdered!"

"Well, now we're even." Avery countered, "I have to find out my best friend is alive from her mom?!"

Reason was on the edge of tears. "I'm sorry. I'm really, really didn't know that was going to happen. If I'd thought—"

"Reason, Reason, calm down." Avery cut her off, "I'm just—I'm glad you're okay. And I'd-I like to see you, if you're okay with that."

"Of course, it's okay." Reason breathed, "How soon can we do it?"

Three hours later, Avery walked up to the trailer again, Fred pulling at her tethering and bleating.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what happened the last time we met." Avery said, taking a few steps back, "I just didn't want her to know I was here."

That was when the door to the trailer was opened, and Reason seeing Avery, let out an overjoyed shrieked and ran to her throwing her arms around her neck. "It is _so_ good to see you."

"You too." Avery said, tears streaming down her face. They were both crying by that point.

Finally, Reason pulled back. "You want anything? I, set out, um, the self-heating drink cans you left in the hamper."

"Sounds great." Avery agreed, "But, um, is she here?"

Reason nodded, pulling Avery inside. Maudie standing in the kitchen area, holding the large Minnie Mouse by one ear, staring up them with wide eyes, but an otherwise blank expression. Upon seeing the stranger, she ran behind the slab.

"Maudie, it's okay." Reason told her whipping her own eyes, "This is the lady who got you your Minnie Mouse doll."

Maudie stuck her head out at that.

"Avery, this is Maud." Reason introduced her, "Maudie, this is your Aunt Avery."

"Thank you." Maudie said finally.

Fresh tears flowed down Avery's face, overwhelmed with emotion. "You're welcome. "She got out, "Oh, Reason, she's beautiful."

"Thank you." Maudie repeated again, knowing that was what you say.

Avery laughed. "She's definitely yours."

After things calmed down some, the three females sat down, the adults with steaming cups of hot tea with cream and sugar, Maudie with hot chocolate, and Reason asked one of the many things she was wondering about. "How did you even find me?"

Avery froze for a moment. "Maybe we should wait until we're alone to talk about that."

Reason looked to Maudie, who was sucking on the side of the can, then back to Avery with a confused look.

Swallowing, while Maudie was looking at something else, Avery whispered, " _Resurgmus."_

Suddenly, an apple that had been on lying on the slab levitated into the air.


	62. The Witches

"What— "Reason balked, "How—"

"I think you know how." Avery responded, "The same lady who taught you been teaching me."

"Rowena?" Reason balked and when Avery nodded, she admitted, "When she never came back, I thought she died or forgot about me or found out about my accidents and thought life was too short."

"Accidents?" Avery repeated, surprised, "" Reason, what exactly have you been getting into?"

"Well, first I accidently turned my closet friend here, her ex and a diner regular into dogs." Reason answered, "And that regular hasn't been back since I fixed it. Then while trying to fix I wilted the produce of an entire grocery store, animated a doll that immediately started begging for death, and turned a rose bush green. "After a beat she added, "And then for my grand finale of my career in witchcraft, I turned one thirty-something man and one hundred something man into toddlers." After a beat, Reason asked, "How you'd get in with her anyway?"

"Got in a fight with a couple of my less-than-charming roommates, a punch got thrown—then a spell got thrown." Avery explained, "Turns out one of my roommates literally was a witch. The rest went running, left me semi-conscious on the floor. If Cat, Elle, and Shaylene hadn't shown up, I don't want to think about what would've happened."

"Wait, who?" Reason cut her off.

"They joined the coven before I did." Avery explained, "Delores, that's another girl in it, was in the campus bookstore buying them out of these," She held up the can, "College students buy a lot of them because they're cheap, hot and don't require having an actual stove to cook on. Anyway, they were waiting for her outside, saw what happened one thing lead to another, and next thing you know, I'm Avery the quarter aged witch."

"But—but why would you even want to be a witch?" Reason asked. Aside from her living situation, Avery's life seemed to be going a lot better than hers.

"Let's see, I could get a degree I only picked because I had to declare a major eventually and probably the rest of my life paying off a mountain of debt or I could get some actually power and find out what happened to my best friend and deliver some much-deserved payback to my bastard brother."

Reason's heart plummeted. "Oh my God, you didn't—"

"Relax, relax, relax." Avert cut her off, "I didn't kill him. I just—made it very unlikely that Maudie's getting a half-sibling from him. Maybe. I don't know, I haven't tracked him down to see if the doll actually worked."

Distressed, Reason ran her hand through her hair. "You know he didn't murder me, right?"

"Well, I know that _now._ " Avery responded, "Before then, I didn't know what happened. And he still cheated on you and abandoned you while you were carrying his baby!"

Reason rubbed her forehead. They weren't getting anywhere on that point, and honestly, she still held a bit of a grudge herself in this issue, so she moved on. "Does Rowena know you're here?"

Avery nodded. "When I found one of her notes that said she needed to remember to come get you, I was furious. She knew I was looking for you and she said nothing. We basically threatened a coup if she didn't tell us where you were."

Reason was alarmed by a different part of the sentence. "Wait, what did she mean come get me?"

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to either of them, Sam was watching from the edge of the clearing. He knew they probably weren't in any danger, but he couldn't live with himself if he was wrong.

That was how he saw a willowy woman with long red wavy hair, dressed in an elegant green dress approach the trailer.

Getting out the car he called out, "Hey! Hey stop!"

The woman turned to look at him. "Yes?" She asked in a Scottish lilt.

"Um, where exactly are you going?" Sam demanded, putting a hand in his jacket and wrapped around the handle of his gun, just in case.

"Well, I could ask the same of you." The woman replied.

 _Alright, fair enough._ "A friend of mine lives here." Sam admitted, "There's been some—things going on lately, I just wanted to make sure she's okay."

"Well, there is a young woman here I was…tutoring a while back, and I've been meaning to come back, but things got—in the way." The woman answered, "But I've recently had a opportunity to check up on her."

"Well, maybe they're the same person." Sam replied, holding his cards close to his chest.

Before the woman could respond, a voice called out, "Oh, no, you don't!"

"Look, you had to know this was going to happen." Avery was saying back in the trailer, "It's sort of hard to have a coven if everyone's in different parts of the country. And hey," She reached out and took Reason's hand, "Now we can all be together." After a beat she began, "You're going to love the others. And Delores' oldest is the same age as Maudie, and he's really, really sweet…."

"Avery, you don't understand." Reason cut her off, continuing in a lower voice, "When I said I thought she forgot me or gave up on me, I meant _hoped_ she forgot me or gave up on me. Apart from the fact that I'm not very good at anything above levitating, and throwing I found another way out. I got my GED, and I'm saving up for trade school. Admittedly, I don't have nearly enough, but I'm getting there."

Outside with Sam and the woman a group of four-woman ages ranging from early twenties to early thirties, one blonde the rest brunette, the fourteen-year-old from the video, and a lean dog with sleek back fur, bright blue eyes and pointy ears. "You said you would give them time." A slender girl in her early twenties with shoulder-length straight hair, a red back pack on her back said, clutching a world war II era riffle and giving the red headed woman a cool glare.

"I did." The red head responded.

"You gave them like, ten minutes." The blonde protested.

"Well, that's enough time to get her caught up on the situation." The red head reasoned.

"Yeah, because after over three years without seeing each other Avery immediately jumped to, 'Hey, I'm witch too, and the woman who had you a witch made me a witch'?" The blonde snarked.

"Elle!" The brunette with the gun shouted, as the brunette nearest to Elle, covered her mouth.

That was when it clicked. "You're Rowena, aren't you? T-The woman who taught Reason magic?"

The red head, Rowena apparently, looked alarm. "You know about that?"

"Yeah, she explained everything while she was turning her friends back into humans after she had accidently turned them into dogs. "Sam informed her, "What were you thinking, giving a nineteen-year-old magic, her only learning a basic understanding of it, and then leaving her to her own devices. Do you realize the damage you two caused?" Admitted Reason's misadventures weren't near the worst thing Sam had come across, even with the incident, but still, it was the principle of the thing.

In the trailer, that was the point, Reason heard the commotion. "What's going on out there?" She asked before getting up and opening the door, finding Sam arguing with serval woman she didn't recognize and Rowena, making her heart stop for a moment.

"Reason," Rowena noticed her presence, greeting her with a smile, "Can you please come out here and explain to your friend and the rest of the coven that you're perfectly caught up."

"Well, we are more or less." Reason admitted, stepping out, "Listen, we need to talk. Thanks for coming to get me, but no thanks. You see, I found my own way."

Rowena's face fell, darkening a little. "What do you mean, you found your own way?"

"Well, I suck as a witch," Reason began, "And—someone—pointed out that I'm really good with cars and appliances. I'm been saving up for trade school."

"Reason, Reason, Reason," Rowena urged, walking up the girl and stroking her, "I know you didn't learn, all that much, and if what your friend here tells me, you've had a few false starts, but you had so much potential. Do you really want to throw that away for the life of a grease monkey?"

That was when Avery stepped up and stepped between then. "Look, if she doesn't want to come you can't force her."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Avery." Rowena scolded.

Suddenly a piece of debris whizzed past Rowena's head. "Who threw that?!" The witch demanded, turning to look at the rest of the coven. "Just who threw that?!"

That was when a baby's cry broke through the tension.

"Hold this." The brunette with the gun instructed, handing the gun to the last brunette and ran to the thicket and pulled out a baby wrapped on a thick pink blanket. That was when two little boys stuck their heads out, one about the same age as Dean, Cas, and Maudie, the other roughly a year younger.

"You brought your kids on stakeout with you?!" Sam balked, then it hit him, "Wait, you have kids?"

"Reason has a kid remember?" The brunette who had coved Elle's mouth pointed out.

Sam shrugged. _Again, fair enough._

"We—have some things to work out, so, tell you what," Rowena began, addressing Reason, "You take a few days to think about it, and then if you still don't want to join us-well, our lost. But, if you change your mind and say you want to come, you can. Deal?"

"Sure." Reason agreed, though she wasn't about to change her mind.

"Until then, why don't you get Maudie and come with me?" Sam spoke up.

Reason nodded and went to get her daughter, when Avery grabbed her hand. "Just so you know, I didn't mean for things to go like this."

"I know." Reason said, scooping up Maudie and fleeing the trailer.

After finally getting to safely, Sam did what he felt he should have done a year of go: Researching Reason's "teacher."

"A witch named Rowena?" Clive recapped over the phone when Sam called him, pondering in the question, "Why does that sound familiar?"

"Don't you remember?" Bonnie spoke up, "That case Joel was working on? We offered to come help but he was like 'we have a total of three hunters I think we can handle one witch.' The only witch who made those weird hex bags was named Rowena. Just one name. Like Cher."

"Right." Clive responded, nodding, "Look, Sam, I'm going to text you my brother Joel's number, he can probably explain it better than I can."

Elsewhere in the country, a girl of about thirteen with long straight raven hair was writing in a notebook when a phone on the table started ringing. "Dad, phone!" The phone keeps ringing and her father did not appear. "Dad, your phone is ringing!" As it kept ringing, she called out a final warning, "If you don't come get it, I'm going to answer!" The phone kept ringing the girl picked up the cell phone. "Hello?"

Remembering Bonnie mentioned a niece, Sam responded, "Hey, this wouldn't be Carrie Anne Parker, would it?"

Carrie Anne narrowed her eyes. "Who's asking?"

"Uh, Sam, Winchester, I, uh, do the same thing your dad does—" He began, trying to be delicate.

Carrie Anne jumped to her feet. "No freakin' way. Is it true that you died like, four times?"

"Uh, more or less." Sam admitted, suddenly uncomfortably.

"Oh, this is nuts." Carrie Anne fangirled, "Wow."

Just then, Joel walked in. "Who are you talking to?"

"Dad, you are _not_ going to believe this." Carrie Anne told him, "Sam freakin' Winchester is on the other side of this call. There is current bringing a Winchester's voice to us. Uncle Clive was _not_ joking!" After a beat she addressed Sam, "So, we were in this dive one night and some guy said that you were possessed by the Devil. Like Lucifer. The actual big bad devil and you lived?"

"Carrie Anne Parker," Joel scolded, "You don't just ask someone about something that messed up. How would you feel some stranger just started peppering you with question about your darkest hour? Now, apologize to the man and give me the phone."

"Sorry Mr. Winchester." Carrie Anne apologized before handing the phone to her father, who then took the call out of the room.

"Sorry about that." Joel apologized again, "Kid's a bit of a fan. I probably shouldn't let her spend so much time around other hunters. Though, for the record, I told her to stay in the truck when we went to that dive. Anyway, I'm assuming this isn't a social call."

"No." Sam confirmed, "Uh, your brother and his girlfriend said you could give me some information on a witch named Rowena?"

"Boiled brains or melted demons?" Joel asked.

"Uh, excuse me?" Sam responded, confused.

"So, several mouths back, me and this other hunter, Lizzie, catch this case about a demonic sex trafficking ring. Yes, you did hear that right. We track down the brothel the whole thing was run out of only to find the girls gone and the head demon pimp dead. Not the just the host, the demon itself, something caused him to vomit his—essence I guess in a bunch of disgusting, demon mush."

Sam shuttered at the thought.

"Naturally we searched the place and found this hex bag like nothing I've ever seen before." Joel continued, "Research was done and it turned out the hex bag was for a demon killing spell from the 18th century. _Defigere et depurgare,_ which in Latin means 'to bind and purge'. Hadn't been scene for 300 years before that day and guess the name of the only witch to ever use it."

"Rowena." Sam guessed.

"Bingo." Joel replied, "Now, as a man with a daughter, if she was just killing demon pimps and rescuing their victims I'd send the woman a damn fruit basket, but then a waiter at a five-star restraint's brains boiled in his head and there was a woman with two girls another waiter described as 'hookers'. It didn't take a lot to put two and two together. God only know what she eventually did to the girls. We look around, and a contact of Lizzie's by the name of Darrell's been investigating murders at the Kenningston, the Wardorf in Cleveland, they were pinned to the ceiling and stabbed, but they were actually caused by their brains being boiled. Again, doesn't exactly take a rocket science. Anyway, we track them down, they're being cornered by demons, the demons start fighting us, we exercise the demons but in the fracas they all slip out the back. We lose the trail and this became one of those no lead dogs of the cases. Like, we've all actually been on other cases and came back to this. The case is that cold."

In spite of everything he had just heard, something kept niggling at Sam's mine. "And the other girls?"

"We took care of them." Joel assured him, "Got them set up some place safe, Lizzie's been helping them deal with the trauma of everything they went through. Use to be a therapist before she was hunter." After a beat he added, "I just can't help thinking about the ones we didn't save sometimes. From what we got a couple were killed for trying to escape, and of course there's the ones this Rowena ran off with. I doubt she had anything good planned for them. We've even considered a 'Hansel And Gretel' thing."

"I actually have a feeling they're doing okay." Sam responded.

Meanwhile, one of those girls from the brothel, a brunette by the name of Catlin, was sitting on a bed in what passed for fine lodging in small town, watching as Avery paced the floor, calling Reason for the fifth or sixth time. "I don't think she's in the mood for talking, Aves."

Paying Catlin no mind, Avery continued to pace, chanting, "Come on, Reason. Pick up, pick up, pick up." When she got the voice mail again, she groaned and threw her phone to the ground.

"Now, did that help with anything?" Catlin questioned.

"Made me feel a little better." Avery reasoned, continuing the pace, "I just got her back, I can't lose her again!"

"Even if she doesn't join up, that doesn't mean you're gonna lose her." Shaylene spoke up from where she had been helping Delores put down her children for a nap on the other bed, "You can still keep in contact with each other, still visit."

"Granted Rowena doesn't like to have contact with people outside of the coven." The youngest girl, Tina, pointed out as she played with the dog, "Which is more than a little culty if you ask me."

"Well can threaten another coup." Elle pointed, "Like we did to keep Lady. And to get Aves the intel on her friend."

"Yeah, but that can only work so many times." Tina reasoned.

"Eh, true." Elle shrugged.

"It's not just about her not wanting to be in the coven." Avery somewhat snapped, "After all the trouble I brought to her door, she must hate me." She ran her fingers through her dark hair, "I got—I got to make it up to her somehow?"

Elle got an idea. "We could fix up her house?"

Everyone turned to look at her.

"What, you saw it." Elle responded, "I mean, I guess it could have a very nice inside, but still. And with this new transformation spell we can at least upgrade her to double wide. You know, something safer for her and the kid while she's going to school."

That was when it all clicked together for Avery. "That's it!" She exclaimed running over to hug the blonde, "Elle, you're a genius!"

Meanwhile, Reason was in another room of the bunker with Hannah and the kids where Sam stepped in. "Hey," He greeted, "Reason, can we, un, talk in private a minute?"

Having the feeling this wasn't going to be good, Reason kissed Maudie on the forehead before walking off. "So, what did you find?"

"Nothing good." Sam responded, "Reason, you might want to sit down for this."

And so, Sam told her everything she had learned. Perhaps understandably, she was a little upset.

"Sam, I swear to you, and I didn't know about any of this." Reason insisted once he had finished.

"I know." Sam replied, "I just think—for obvious reasons, you shouldn't meet with her again. Get out of town for a few hours the day of, me and Charlie will take care of everything."

"What about the others? "Reason asked, concerned for her friend and her friend's friends.

"Well, if they haven't killed anyone, I see no reason not to let them walk." Sam responded.

Reason let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

That night, Reason and Maudie stayed with Sam and Hannah again, curled up in the children's room next to her daughter on the pallet, clutching her tight.

Meanwhile, the five witches and the dog, Delores dragging her wagon with her children, an extra backpack thrown over her shoulder, Avery and the rest dragging wagons of more of the cans, powdered food, fruit trees, and materials for a few spells, stopped in front of Reason's trailer. "Okay, we get her stuff out first, then do your thing, Elle.

When they had all of the furniture and belongings Reason didn't take with them into hiding, Elle began to chant, " _Iam quiddam magis amplum et shack vertere hoc in aliquid melius. Iam quiddam magis amplum et shack vertere hoc in aliquid melius. Iam quiddam magis amplum et shack vertere hoc in aliquid melius…."_

The house began to glow, reforming and growing with a _crunch._ The light faded and standing in its place was a blue double-wide trailer with a short stairway leading up to a white door.

"Okay, now, let's get _really_ started." Avery said, leading the way.

The next day, Hannah, Reason, and Serena Joy loaded up the kids and went to the next town over, winding up in the Christmas isle of _Hobby Lobby.  
_ "I don't understand why they have Christmas out in August." Hannah mused, her eyes glancing over to see Reason's ashen face and extremely solemn appearance, "Reason, you look like Death's standing over you with his scythe."

"I'm sorry." Reason replied, "It's just everything and now Sam and Charlie going up against a physco witch, and Avery being a student of the physco witch…you don't think Avery's done something she can't take back, do you?"

Hannah put her arms around the younger woman. "She was only with Rowena a short time. I doubt she's learned how to do _that_ yet."

That was when they were distracted by Dean calling out, "Mommy, look!"

With that, they knelt down to see the ornament they were looking at.

Rowena was sitting in the dinner when Sam and Charlie came up to her. "I take this means she's turning me down."

"Yeah." Sam responded firmly, "And you're letting the others go, too."

"You make it sound like they're being held against their will." Rowena responded, unaffected.

"Maybe they're not." Sam admitted, "But I'm guessing there's a few things you haven't told them. Like what happens to bellhops and waiters at places you tend to frequent." After beat he added, "Yeah, I know about that. "

Not missing a beat, Rowena began ever so sweet, "Samuel-it is Samuel isn't it?"

"Sam." He corrected her all business.

"Well, Sam." Rowena began again, "I assure you that I have not used any version of that spell in months. Not since the girls figured it out and threatened a coup."

That caught Sam by surprise. "A coup?"

"Yes, and they as threatened a coup when I wouldn't let them keep a dog." Rowena added, rolling her eyes.

"Sounds like being a big coven head isn't all you'd thought it would be." Charlie snarked.

"You're telling me, sister." Rowena responded, going into a full-on rant, "I set out to take a few students, build up a coven strong enough to take on the Grand Coven, instead I got a rag-tag band of misfits and their dog. Three ex sex workers, a battered twenty one-year-old mother of three with an preoccupation with doomsday prepping that gives me the impression that if I hadn't shown up she's going to the take the kids and go off the gird, and thirty-something that got turned into a fourteen-year-old by an ex-friend of mine."

Sam and Charlie just stared a minute at that. "Huh?" Sam asked finally, confused.

"The Grand Coven sent my old friend Katja to bring me in." Rowena explained, "Which frankly, I don't get, given her …. unusual appetites. Likes the taste of human flesh, particularly children. Thought, since people became more concerned about missing children, she just de-ages adults that no one will miss and cooks them up instead, but still. I mean, I know I'm extreme, but at least I'm not a cannibal. You'd think Katja would be somewhere on their list, rather than having her going after the people on it."

"But you _were_ friends with her." Charlie pointed out.

"There's a reason I never at anything where I visited her." Rowena responded, "I could never be sure if raisins were the only thing in her minced meat tarts. Anyway, spells were flying, both Katja and her henchman Hansel, yes, _that_ Hansel, perished and with them gone I couldn't find a way to reverse the spell. De-aging spells are quite tricky. So now, I'm basically acting _in loco parrenthis_ to Tina, who still has the memories and personality from her old life and no ID, so there's some problems there _,_ the girls from the brothel are all traumatized, as you can image, Sharlene can barely stand to be touched, and Delores, while not part of that group, has her own issues—" She leaned her head back and rubbed her eyes.

"So, you're saying with great powers comes great responsibly." Sam smirked in spite of himself.

"Ug, Uncle Ben didn't know the half of it." Rowena responded, "So you see why I'm not tore up about letting one girl out."

"So, we won't hear anything from you again?" Sam demanded.

"Not a syllable." Rowena confirmed, "I promise. I fact, here." She threw a small wag of hundreds on the table. "My donation to the Reason McCarthy future Grease Monkey fund."

"Ah, thanks I'll make sure she gets it." Sam responded, taking the money. Both needing to stall for time until the other hunters got there, and getting an idea, he continued, "Now, I think I can help you with some of your girls' problems…."

The next day, having sufficiently ran Rowena and the coven out of town, Sam drove Reason and Maudie, home, only to be met with a surprise.

"What the—" Reason began, seeing the blue trailer where he much smaller on use to be, getting out before Sam could stop her.

Avery and the rest of the coven stepped out from behind the house. "Do you like it?" She asked, but when she saw the look on her face, began, "Look, maybe we overstepped here, but—"

"No, no," Reason cut her off quickly, "It's wonderful. But—how?"

"Transformation spell." Avery answered, "But that's not all. Get a load of the back, here."

The girls lead Reason to the back, with Sam apprehensively following behind holding Maudie. In the center of there was a little white house with a red roof, a fence around it, and near the corner of the clearing, there were about ten planets, mostly tree, some in pots, some in the ground, most of them dwarf trees, two full-sized, all bursting with fruit, and in two cases vegetables. One of the pots had a stick in it, with cherry tomatoes coming down like grapes, and potatoes sticking out from the soil. A dwarf tree with pears in varying shades of green and brown, another draft tree with varying shades of yellow and red. Yet another dwarf tree with nectarines, peaches, plums and apricots all on the same tree. A potted dwarf-tree with oranges, lemons and limes. A full-sized tree with full purple, blushes-purple and yellow-green plums. Another full-sized tree dripping with deep red and bright yellow cherries. All of this fruit was full-sized. There was also a potted vine-like plant with odd luffa-like sponges and two pots of a palm-like plant with oval-shaped red berries.

"They're specialty grafts, mostly." Avery explained, "Except for the luffas and the jujube. But—that's not all." She took her friend by hand, "Wanna check out your new cellar?"

Next to the back of the trailer, were a pair of wooden doors in the ground. Avery pulled a bar off and opened them, and she and Reason descended the stairs.

The cellar was covered wall-to-wall with self-heating cans, self-heating bags, and self-heating boxes, jars of powdered milk, powdered eggs, powered orange juice, powered cream, and powdered peanut butter, both regular and chocolate peanut butter, regular cans of things like peas, pineapple, condensed milk, more _Campbells_ soups than Andy Warhol would know what to do with, freeze-dried vegetables, fruits, meat, whole meals, even freeze-dried ice cream. In the floor was industrial-sized tubs of lard, molasses, canning and pickling supplies including a guide with recipes, and goat feed.

"We figured you could save more towards trade school if you didn't have to pay a grocery bill for a while." Avery explained, "There also might be a fully stocked medicine cabinet somewhere inside. And rifle, because you live in such an isolated spot."

Tears were rolling down Reason's face. "You didn't have to—"

Avery cut her off by hugging her. "We _wanted_ to Reason. Now go be the best mechanic, and best mom there ever was. "Pulling back she added, "And call your parents. Seriously, not just a message this time, like actually talk to them. They're not mad, they're not disappointed, they just want to know where you are."

Reason nodded. "Okay."

 **One Week Later**

Pulling the last of the peaches off the fruit cocktail tree, Reason put it in one of the metal baskets Avery had dropped off her back-child support in, both of which was almost overflowing with fruit. She thought the girls must have used some sort of magic on them, because the fruits and vegetables regrew every few days. There was so much fruit she and Maudie _and_ Fred couldn't possibility eat it all. The canning helped but Reason still wound up giving a bunch away just to make sure it didn't go to waste. She recently traded the Winchesters for some of the vegetables that were part of Sam's payment for his work at the commune.

She was going for the last of the nectarines when she heard a voice saying, "Hey there, sweetie, who's your friend there?"

Reason whirled around to see Maudie hiding behind Fred's house, as a man with short, thick, almost fluffy appearing brown hair dressed in dark pants and blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, stood by the fence around it.

"Alright, maybe not the best way to go about it." Joshua McCarthy admitted, taking a few steps back.

Reason froze for a second. "D-Dad?" She finally got out.

"Reason." Joshua breathed, overcome with emotion running up to his daughter and embracing her, "You alright, baby girl?"

"Yeah." Reason answered starting to cry, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, baby girl, when you called, we were so relieved, we just had to come see ya." Joshua answered before pulling back, "Your mother and sister are waiting in the car. I wanted—I wanted to make sure everything was okay first. It seems we have a lot to catch up on."

Reason smiled. "Yeah, we do." She wouldn't tell them about the witchcraft or anything, she didn't want them think she'd lost her mind, but they still had over three years to catch up on. "Maudie, come meet your grandfather, baby."


	63. Labor Day

**AN: Happy Labor Day everyone!**

Dean's eyes slowly opened, finding his head still below his covers. Pulling them back he stared at the bed across from him where Castiel was sleeping. Fully awaking, he realized Mommy hadn't come yet, like she usually did, to wake them up. "Mommy?! Mommy, I need you! Mommy!"

Lying on his back in bed, Sam let out a breath at the sound of one of his sons calling for his mother. "That's my cue." Hannah told him, unlatching her grip on him.

"Mine, too." Sam agreed, sitting up. It was Labor Day, and they had decoded to sleep in, and therefore, let the kids sleep in too. "Meet you for breakfast in five?"

"Probably better make it ten." Hannah told him.

"Gives me more time to cook." Sam reasoned, getting out of the bed.

When they got to the kitchen, there was a stack of pancakes on the table, which they boys immediately flocked, too, and devoured.

"Looks like someone's hungry." Sam joked.

"Because we slept late, Daddy." Dean explained.

"Not that late." Sam replied, sitting down with his own plate.

When they got to the park, everyone was already there, Reason and Maudie, Edith, Serena Joy, Rawls and Elsbeth and the girls, Dory immediately running for Cas.

As Hannah went to put the food they brought down, she noticed there were four pies all in a row. "What is—" She began.

"Apple, cherry, peach, and plum." Serena Joy explained, walking over to the table, "And I've been getting a lot of fruit from certain people lately."

"Well, Dean should be happy with this development." Hannah quipped as the tot had retained the fondness for pie he had as an adult.

Meanwhile, Rawls was walking up to Sam. "Long time no see, huh? I mean, when was the last time we've actually talked? The zoo wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess." Sam replied awkwardly, "How's that estrogen ocean treating you?"

"Believe it or not, I'm starting to get use to it." Rawls admitted, "Gonna miss it, even."

Meanwhile, on the playground, Maudie had an announcement. "I gotted a grandpa now."

"Where'd you get one of those?" Dean asked.

"What's a grandpa? "Cas added.

"Mommy's Daddy." Maudie answered, "He came on an airplane. I also got a Grandma and two aunts." She held up two fingers. "They came on an airplane, too."

"You can't just get grandparents and aunts." Scarlett protested, "You either got them or you don't."

"Not true!" Maudie protested.

"Is so!" Scarlet retorted, "Me and Scarlet have an uncle and an aunt, and two grandmas and a grandpa, but we only ever see our grandpa. And we've never met Aunt Setphie."

"I think Mommy talked to her on the phone once." Vanessa added.

Scarlet, however, was not finished dishing all the family dirt, "And Dory has two other aunts and a grandma."

"Why does she have extra aunts and Grandmas?" Dean asked.

That was when Vanessa said, "That sounds like a Mama question, I'll go get her."

"So, how's the furniture shopping going?" Hannah asked Reason as the pair stat in a mom-huddle with Elsbeth.

"Well, it turns out bed sets are just as an expensive as I remember." Reason told her, " My parents offered to help, but it seems a little awkward right now. But I _was_ able to find a bedspread that I was hopping would warm Maudie up to the idea of sleeping in her own bed. No such luck."

"Have you tried selling it on how much of a big girl this makes her?" Elsbeth asked.

Reason's face lit up. "That works?"

"I don't know for sure; I've never actually had to try it." Elsbeth admitted, "My girls are stair-stacked and my apartment was never big enough to have her own room, but I've heard good things about that strategy."

Just then Vanessa came running up to them. "Mommy, why does baby sister have an extra aunt and a grandma?"

Everyone froze for a moment. "Who exactly's asking?" Elsbeth asked finally.

"Dean." Vanessa answered, pointing to the younger boy.

"And why was Dean asking about this?" Hannah asked.

"Scarlet told her because Maudie said she has two aunts and a grandma and grandpa now." Vanessa explained.

Both of the other mothers looked to Hannah for permission on what to say.

"Tell him…" Hannah began, he voices trailing off, "Tell him we'll talk about it later."

"Okay." Vanessa agreed, running back.

The mothers exchanged looks. "Sorry about that, Hannah." Elsbeth said finally.

"Yeah, me, too." Reason added, since it was her daughter who brought the subject off.

"It's not your fault." Hannah reasoned, "Kids are just curious."

An hour or so later, the kids were playing when suddenly a Doberman came walking down from the park onto the toddler playground. "Doggie!" Dean squealed happily getting off the swing and running towards it, joining by Maudie and Scarlet.

In a flash, all three mothers were on their feet, grabbing their wayward children away from the dirty stray dog.

"But I wanna play with the doggie!" Dean protested, struggling to get away.

"We don't know anything about this dog." Hannah told him, "He might have rabies or something. Sam!"

Also like a flash, Sam and Rawls were over on the playset.

"Do something about that." Hannah requested, pointing to the dog.

Sam carefully went over to the dog. "Hey, you friendly?" He asked, and when the dog let him get closer enough to look at his color, continued, "You're friendly." He saw the dog's collar had some kind of black box on it, but no liscine. "Well, there's no tags, but it's got one of these box things like to an invisible fence, maybe?"

"Ah, I'm not expert, but aren't those things supposed to keep the dog in." Edith spoke up, coming over to the scene.

"Could've of not be working properly, or something could've spooked it so bad it ignored the charge." Elsbeth reasoned.

Realizing they thought the dog was lost, Dean became distressed, "Daddy, yous gotta help it."

"Yeah." Cas agreed, as he had been lost before and knew how scary it felt.

"Hold on, hold on." Sam urged, "I'll think of something." Then it occurred to him, "I'll call Nell, get the number of the vet we use when someone gets sick, see if I can bring this guy to scan for a chip."

"And if they can't get him in on a holiday?" Rawls pointed out.

Sam shot Hannah an entreating look.

Feeling sympathy for the dog, Hannah gave in. "Then I guess we a house guess until we can get in."

A few minutes later, Sam came out with his phone. "Okay, so Dr. Crocket's gonna meet me at his office, see what we can find."

"Can I come, too, Daddy?" Dean perked up.

"Well, don't you want to stay here with everyone else?" Sam asked, crouching down.

Dean shook his head. "No. I want to pet the doggie if it doesn't have the rabies."

Hannah and Sam exchanged looks. "Okay." Sam agreed, "But you have to behave for Daddy, okay?"

"Okay." Dean agreed.

That was when Maudie called out, "I want to pet it, too!"

"Me too!" Scarlett agreed."

And so, Sam, and everyone but Rawls and Edith who stayed behind to stake claim to the spot, drove out to the vet's office.

The minute was confirmed that the dog didn't have "the rabies" up was showered with affection from the kids, which it must have been raised around kids or something because he ate it up.

"Okay, guys," Sam said finally, coming over with the vet, "Stand back so Dr. Crocket can scan the chip."

The children obeyed, and Dr. Crocket ran the scanner down the dog's back, which went off with a little _bleep, bleep, bleep!_

"Is that good?" Dean asked.

Dr. Crocket smirked. "Yes, this is very good. This means we can find out where this little guy comes from.

Five minutes later a beleaguered looking man stepped into Dr. Crocket's office. "Oh thank God." He breathed when he saw the dog, running to him and rubbing him. "The kids were so freaked out. Thank you so much."

"You'se welcome!" Dean pipped up.

By the time they had returned the dog to its owner, and got back to the park the food was done. The entrees were similar to the fair they had on July fourth, burgers and barbeque bologna, but the sides were crinkle cut fries, cole slaw, several bags of freeze-dried shrimp cocktail Reason felt slightly bad on pawning off on the group.

And of course, the desserts were different.

Dean went back and forth across the picknick table, trying to figure out which pie he wanted.

"How about apple?" Sam suggested, as that always seemed to be good best.

That when out of nowhere, Dean said, "No, I'se want plum."

That took Sam by surprise. "Are you sure? You've never had that before; you don't know if you'll like it."

"That's why I'se wanna try it." Dean explained.

Sam grinned at his son's curiosity. "Okay little man." And with that he cut him a slice.

Cas was feeling a little less adventurous and picked apple.

After they cleaned up dinner, things got rather quiet. The kids played, and the adults played with them or chatted amost themselves. It was during one of those times that Dean and Cas approached the adults, holding each other's hand as if in support, Cas clutching to Coat with his free hand. Everyone got quiet when they approached. "What's the matter, little ones?" Hannah asked, concerned by the solemnness of the toddlers.

"We were wondering…um…" Cas began.

"Why don't we have aunts or grandmas or grandpas?" Dean finished for him.

The Winchester parents froze for a moment.

This gave Dean time to elaborate. "They all have aunts and grandmas and grandpas and things."

"Yeah, why don't we?" Cas added.

"Um, well, remember how we talked about how when people are hurt bad enough, they go to Heaven?" Sam reminded hers, "Well, that's where your grandparents are. Daddy's parents?"

"Put what about Mommy's Daddy and Mommy?" Cas asked, his eyes large.

Again, everyone froze for a moment, and then they decided just to go with something like honesty. "Come here." Hannah began, scooping up both boys, "Mommy doesn't actually have a Mommy and her Daddy…he's been gone for a while."

"Did he get hurt and go to Heaven to?" Dean asked innocently.

Hannah suppressed a bitter laugh. "No, Mommy just…lost him. She doesn't know where he is."

Both boys looked like they were about to cry. "Poor Mommy." Dean declared, wrapping is little arms around her, Cas taking the other side.

Hannah hugged them back. "It's alright, little ones." She assured him, "Because, I have you and your Daddy."

Sam put a reassuring arm around his wife's later.

"It's fine." Hannah insisted, "Really."

There was a long moment of silence and then Sam decided to redirect the question. "You know, if you really want an aunt, I'm sure Charlie wouldn't mind being one."

Both boys looked up. "You can do that?" Cas pipped up.

Rubbing his son's head, he paraphrased, "Family don't end in blood kid."

"Can we call her to ask?" Dean requested excitedly.

"Sure, bud." Sam told him.

Charlie was packing up her gear when the phone rang. "Hey, Sam." She greeted him, "Sorry I couldn't make it."

"Hey, things happen." Sam brushed it off, "But, uh, the boys had something they wanted to ask you." He put the phone on speaker.

"Hey little dudes, what's up?" Charlie asked.

"Can you'se be our aunt?" Dean came right out with it.

Charlie felt a little thrill go through her. "What?"

Misinterpreting, Dean's face well. "Did we do something wrong?"

"No." Charlie assured him quickly, "I—I would be honored to be your aunt."

"Yay!" Both boys cheered.

"I love you, Aunt Charlie." Cas told him.

"I love you, too." Dean agreed.

Whipping little tears from her eyes Charlie told them, "I love you, too."

When they finally hung up, everyone could hear tinkling melody coming their way. "Ice cream!" Both boys squealed, running for it.

Hannah was sitting on the ground, working on a chocolate-lovers cone while watching the children devour their own creations, when she felt Sam sat down beside her. "So, how are you?"

It took a moment for Hannah to realize what Sam was referring to. "I'm fine. Really."

That was when Elsbeth came up. "Mind if I join you?"

"No." Hannah answered, gesturing for the woman to sit down.

Elsbeth sat on the ground. "So, the boys dug a little deep there for a moment, didn't they?"

"I suppose they did." Hannah responded, actually somewhat impressed.

Elsbeth glanced over to Sam.

"She says she's fine." Sam said, realizing that Elsbeth was checking up on Hannah and if the huddle was any indication was the group spokesperson.

"Well, un, I know it's none of our business, but if you're ever ready to be not fine, we're all here for you." Elsbeth told her.

"It's fine, really." Hannah insisted, "I've accepted the situation. Besides, it's not like everyone's else family situations are perfect."

"True." Elsbeth admitted.

That was when Reason came over. "Except for maybe Serena Joy."

"Ah, you've met my aunt, remember?" Serena Joy called out to them.

"No, she's right." Reason agreed, "Her Aunt puts any issue we could possibly have to shame."

Hannah smirked and Sam let out a laugh. "But I meant what I said." Hannah told him, laying her head on his shoulder, "You and the boys are more than enough for me."

Over on the other bench, the children had gathered around Edith as the teenager sat down with her guitar. Slowly, the adults filtered that way as well, both intrigued a bit nervous. Edith strummed a few cords and began to sing. " _I'm meetin' my buddies out on the lake. We're headed out to a special place-we love!-and just a few folks know. There's no signin' up, no monthly dues. Take your Johnson, you're Mercury, or your Evinrude and fire it up, meet us out at party cove. Come on in the water's fine. Just idle on over, and toss us a line…"_

And at the end of the day, it was a very good last day of summer, unofficial or otherwise.


	64. Dean In The Teen Nook

"Hi, doggy!" Dean beamed, waving at the stuffed toy basset hound that sat on the front desk.

They were at one of Dean's favorite places: The library. They had different toys than they had at home and they were always doing fun stuff. And some days Mommy _and_ Daddy could come with them, like today.

Hannah untethered the children from their harnesses. "Stay in the play area." She instructed, as she and Sam sat down on the chairs they had for the parents.

Dean started looking for the cubby with a picture of dinosaurs on it, as Cas went for the farm animals and the play food. Dean's face furrowed in frustration, as it appeared the dinosaur cubby had been moved.

Over in the adult chairs, a thought occurred to Sam. "Hey, maybe you should turn those books in while they're distracted."

Hannah looked down at the copies of _The Tragedy of Mariam,_ and _The House of Mirth._

"I got them. "Sam assured her, gesturing over to the boys.

While they were having this conversation, Dean finally found the dinosaur cubby. Someone had taken it out and put it in the books for grown up!s Running and picking it up, Dean walked, not realizing he was going in the wrong direction until he keeps walking past rows and rows of books. "Mommy?" Dean called out, stopping when he realized his predicament, "Daddy?"

Hannah stood to go back to the front desk, she realized she could only see Castiel, "Where's Dean?"

Realizing the boy was nowhere in sight, Sam stood up, "Dean?! Dean, where are you ?!"

Tears welling up in his eyes, his lower lip sticking out, Dean continued to call "Mommy?! Daddy?! Cas?!" As he walked further away from his parents and brother.

Meanwhile in the little nook they put the teen fiction and nonfiction books in, which they set up with couches, chairs, tables and a couple of computers, a strawberry blonde Sam would had recognized as his co-worker Georgia, was flipping through a copy of _Wither_ while two of her friends were searching the selves. "You guys fine anything yet?" School had just start back and they were looking for books for their personal books reports they had to complete before Christmas break.

"Still looking." A girl with sleek, straight, light brown hair told her.

"I think I found something." A boy with blue beanie hat over his shaggy mop top said, holing a copy of _My Friend Dahmer_ which he pulled out of the graphic novel corner.

"Dave, do you really think Mrs. Jefferies will actually let you _read_ that?" Georgia questioned.

"Hey, she said we could use graphic novels." Dave pointed out.

"Mm." Georgia mused, going back to her book.

That was when they heard the sobbing. Looking up, they saw a little boy of about two or three curled in the ball crying his little eyes out next to a box of dinosaurs it looked like.

"Hey," Georgia said softly, getting up and carefully approaching him, getting down to his level, "What's the matter little guy? Where are your parents?"

"I'se don't know!" Dean wailed.

It took a couple of tried, but Dean finally explained what happened.

"Okay." Georgia began when he finished, "Dave, you stay here with the Dean, Lilly, you go get one the librarians, I'll go look for his parents."

"No!" Dean protested, hugging Georgia's legs, "Stay."

" _I'll_ get the librarian." Dave volunteered, " _You_ stay here with the little dude." Then he gave Dean a reassuring rub on the head, "Don't worry little dude, we'll get you sorted." Then, sitting his book down he left, Lilly going in the opposite direction.

All was silent for a moment, until Georgia said, "So Dean, why don't you tell me about your friends here?" She figured that talking about dinosaurs would keep him distracted until his parents could be located.

Taking the bait, Dean pulled out a green Tyrannous with a yellow underside. "This is a T-Rex. It has another name, but I don't know how to pronounce it yet."

"Well, that's okay, I'm sure you'll get it." Georgia assured him, "Tell me, is, un, that one your favorite?"

"Uh-huh." Dean confessed, nodded.

"You know which one was always my favorite?" Georgia asked and when Dean shook his head, she pulled out an around and brown triceratops. "The three-horn here."

"Huh?" Dean responded.

"You ever see _Land Before Time?_ " Georgia asked.

Dean shook his head

"What?" Georgia declared in exaggerated disbelief, "That was life the best stuff ever. Even the later ones with the singing. I suppose if you're the type who likes musicals the ones with the singing might be even better."

Sam had reached the front. "Excuse me, we have a missing child."

The librarian at the front the front desk immediately sprang into action. "How old, name, what does he look like."

"Dean Winchester, three, light brown hair, green eyes—" Sam began.

That was when Dave came up. "Hey, that sounds like the kid we found."

Both Sam and the librarian turned to look at him. "Where?" Sam demanded.

Meanwhile, Hannah, who has Castiel with her, was running through the rows, franticly calling out her son's name.

That's when Lilly saw her. "Excuse me," She called out, "Are you looking for a little boy? Because me and my friends just found one in the teen area…"

"Yes, yes." Hannah breathed out, still frantic, "Take me to him, please."

Back in the teen room, Georgia had Dean on the laptop, showing him _Land Before Time Clips._

"What are these here for?" Dean asked.

"What are what here for?" Georgia questioned.

"These." Dean elaborated, gesturing to the computer.

"These are here so big kids like me can study." Georgia explained.

"What does study mean?" Dean asked.

"It means to read and things." Georgia simplified a bit.

That was when Dean saw the book she had left on the chair. "Like that book?"

"Yeah." Georgia responded, "Like that."

"Can I read it?" Dean requested.

"You wouldn't like it sweetie." Georgia told him, "It's about a girls' tough choice between a guy with the personality of white bread and another guy with a shaky moral compass who's dumb as a fencepost."

"Huh?" Dean responded, actually raising an eyebrow.

Fortunately, just then Sam, Hannah and Cas came running lead by the teens. "Dean!" The parents shouted at once.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Dean exclaimed back at them so happy he pratically jumped from the chair, Georgia grabbing him to prevent him for taking a nasty tumble, handing him to Sam.

"Don't you ever do that again." Sam attempted to scold, but was too busy hugging him for dear life.

"I'se sorry." Dean apologized, "I didn't mean to go off."

"It's okay, little one." Hannah assured him, hugging him as well, "Just don't do it again."

That was when Sam realized he recognized the thin, fiery-haired teen in the _Porn Kills Love_ T-shirt. "Georgia?"

"Hey, Sam." Georgia greeted him, "Is this town small or what? So, these are your boys?"

Sam nodded as Cas spoke up. "Thank you for finding my bwother, nice lady."

"No problem, sweetie." Georgia told him.

Clam down a bit, Dean looked up. "Can Georgia come play?"

Sam looked at her somewhat awkwardly.

"Sure, I can play for a little bit." Georgia conceded, grabbing the dinosaur cubby, "Meet you in a few, guys."

As she walked off, Dave commented, "We do all the work, but she gets all the credit."

Lilly chuckled. "Come on, Dave, we got work to do."

Georgia played with the boys for a good thirty minutes, dinosaurs fighting with jungle animals and farm animals.

"Back!" Georgia demanded in jest, her triceratops pushing back on Dean's T-rex as the pair did battle, "Back I say!"

Just then, Dave and Lilly appeared. "We're ready." Lilly told them.

"Well, that's my cue." Georgia quipped, getting up, "Gotta go."

"Oh." Dean moaned.

"Hey, maybe your dad can bring you around the office and I can see you then." Georgia offered.

"Sure." Sam agreed. The pair had clearly bounded.

Georgia rejoined her friends, and with that, the heroes of the hour departed.


	65. The Infestation

It started one evening as they boys were playing, and Sam noticed that both of them were scratching their heads. A lot.

"You guys okay, there, fellas?" Sam asked.

"My head's itchy." Dean declared.

That struck something in Sam, but he wasn't sure what. "Itchy?"

"My head's itchy, too." Castiel added, "Dean gave me an ich!"

That when Sam realized what had struck him and his heart stopped. "Hey, let me look at your head a minute." He peaked through Dean's hair, but he didn't see anything. He repeatedly the process with Cas, and again, nothing. In Dean's hair, maybe a louse or knit would be to light to see, but on Cas' dark hair surely it would stand out.

Thinking they had averted a crisis Sam went about his business.

Later that evening, Hannah squirmed under imaginary ropes, playing the role of pirate prisoner, when suddenly one of her "captors" went over to a table and started to starch his back against the table leg.

"Castiel," Hannah began, concerned, straightening up and taking her hands for being her back "What are you doing?"

"My wings are itchy, Mommy." Cas explained.

Still on the ground, Hannah crawled over to him. "Let me look at them, little one." He told him and she began carefully spreading apart two fingers.

That was when Sam came in to let them know dinner was ready. Remembering his concerns from early he asked, "Are his wings itching?"

"Apparently." Hannah answered, "I don't see anything that looks like a rash." After a beat she added, "Then again, I don't know what I'm looking for." No angel's wing had been material before. Not like this.

"I think I might." Sam said, "Come on, let's go to the bathroom, everyone."

And so, a parent each took a come to their sons' hair. When Sam pulled back the comb from Dean's hair, he saw a little white thing and sighed. "It's lice. Or at least that's what it looks like to me, I'll call the doctor to get an appointment for an official diagnosis. If is, I think it's safe to assume it got into Cas' wings, too."

"How do we treat it?" Hannah asked, getting to the point.

"What are lice?" Dean spoke up.

"These bugs that can get in your hair and make you itchy." Sam explained.

"Ewe." Both boys lamented simultaneously.

"Get 'em off, get 'em off!" Cas begged, starting to freak out scratching both his itchy head and his itchy wings.

"Clam down, clam down," Sam responded, taking the little angel's arms and moving them down, "Starching might hurt you. Daddy's gonna go do some research, and we'll figure out what to do."

Ten minutes later, after wet combing, Dean was sat at the kitchen table with Sam smearing mayonnaise on his hair.

"This will make my head not itchy?" Dean asked, bemused by what they were doing.

"Eventfully, after if gets rid of the lice." Sam told him, carefully putting a shower cap over his head.

Castiel's wings proved a little tricky to treat. The mayonnaise kept falling off, more so with the hair, and obviously a shower cap was not going to fit, eventually forcing the parents to get a little creative by using plastic wrap.

"That's too tight!" Cas cried out as the plastic wrap was wound arounds his wings, "It hurts!"

"Sam, I don't think this should be causing him so much pain." Hannah declared in a low tone, as not further upset Cas.

Sam stopped, taking a moment to think. "Alright, online it said some essential oils are toxic to lice, can you go out and buy some?"

"Just tell me which one." Hannah replied.

Fifteen minutes later, Hannah came in with a clear plastic sack, sitting on the table. "Okay, I got tea tree oil, anise oil, ylang oil, Nerolidol, cotton balls and a couple of makeup brushes."

Sam shot her a questioning look.

"Well, I wasn't sure how we should apply this." Hannah responded, "His wings are small, but it's still a lot of area to cover."

"It's worth a shot." Sam admitted, "Let's start with the tea tree oil."

It took thirty minutes, using both the cotton balls and the brushes, but Cas was trooper thought it all, staying still, and only squirming a little, not complaining once.

"You're doing so good, buddy." Sam encouraged him, finishing the tips of his wings, "Okay, I think that's about it."

"Can we eat now?" Cas requested, "I'se hungy."

"Sure thing, bud." Sam told him, sitting him down. 

After a cold dinner, Sam and Hannah set about continuing to contain the infestation. This included washing every piece of napery and clothing in the house and quarantining the boys stuffed animals for the time being.

"Please don't take our toys!" Dean begged, tears in his eyes, Cas sobbing as they watched their mother put things in a black plastic bag.

"It's not forever." Hannah assured them, "But they could have lice in their fur, so they need to go to get treated."

"But they can't breathe in there!" Cas wailed.

Hannah thought on that for a moment. "Stay here a minute." She told them. Going to the kitchen, she came back with a straw, which she put in the top of the bag, " _Now_ they can breathe."

That seemed to calm them down a bit. "And we can get them back when the lices are gone?" Dean checked.

"First thing." Hannah nodded. Now came the _real_ hard part, "And Cas, sweetheart, I'm going to need Coat."

"Coat don't have lices." Cas protested, touching the garment for dear life.

"And just want to make sure by putting him in the wash." Hannah explained, edging closer.

"No!" Cas exclaimed, pulling back Coat.

"Cas, you'll get him right back." Hannah assured him, "I promise."

"No!" Cas shouted, backing to the end of the bed.

"Castiel William Winchester, give me that coat right now or— "Hannah snapped.

That did it for Cas. He was tired, itchy, had this weird stuff on his head and now Mommy was trying to take his best friend outside of Dean from him. He broke down and started crying.

Realizing what she had done, Hannah pulled him to her. "I'm sorry." She apologized, not believing she had snapped at him like that, "I'm so sorry."

After Cas had cry himself out, Hannah let him. "Castiel," She began, much clamber, "I'm sorry I raised my voice to you. I shouldn't have done that. But I _need_ wash Coat so we can be sure to get rid of all these awful lice."

"Can I stay with it, though?" Cas asked.

"Yes, little one." Hannah agreed.

And so, Cas sat on the dryer, watching intently as his mother put Coat in the washing machine, followed by detergent and fabric softener. "Be careful, be careful."

"I am." Hannah assured, shutting the washing machine lid and turning the dial, "Are you sure you wouldn't be more comfortable on the ground?"

"I'm okay." Cas told her.

"Okay, then. "Hannah responded, stepping back.

After Coat came out of the washer, it was past time to put the kids to bed. Normally a fairly simple routine, that night it proved a little difficult.

"My head feels funny." Dean declared as Sam tucked him in.

"It's just the cap, bud." Sam assured him, "It'll be fine."

On his side of the room, Cas was struggle on his stomach, unable to get comfortable as their mother carefully moved the blankets to avoid his wings. Dean decided to be thankful not to be Cas. Having wings looked cool, but they could be a lot of trouble sometimes.

Sam and Hannah lay in their bedroom, but no one was sleeping. They were too worried about their boys. It was just head lice, but still. Plus, who knew what effect they would have on Cas' wings, or all that stuff they had just put on them? Would they even being able to get the lice out of the wings?

That was when Cas voice called out, "Mommy! I can't sleep!"

Both parents got up. "I'll go get him." Hannah volunteered, "He called for me."

Give or take five minutes later, Hannah walked back in, not just holding Cas, but Dean as well. "Someone wants to sleep with us." Hannah informed him.

"A couple of someones, it looks like." Sam commented as he got out of the bed, "Come here."

They repositioned everyone in the bed, the boys in the middle with poor Castiel still on his stomach, then tried to get some sleep.

The next day, Sam found himself having somewhat of De Ja Vu, as he sat on the bench in front of the Pharmacy, waiting for a prescription to be filled. There was even another dark-haired girl in dark clothing, who glanced over at him. "Hi."

"Hi." Sam repeated.

"So, what's your story?" The girl asked.

"Ah, picking up a prescription for head lice." Sam admitted, "Doctor says this should clear it up in about a week or so."

"You might want to consider a haircut until then." The girl advised.

"Um, why?" Sam responded, thinking he might regret this later.

"Long hair makes it harder to get rid of." The dark-haired girl informed them.

"Oh." Sam responded, "Well, they're hair is pretty sort, so—we'll cross that bridge if I get it."

Two days later, Hannah was painting Cas' wings with the oils again. "Cas, how do the oils make your wings feel?" She had noticed that his wings seemed a little more lustrous since they started brushing them with the oils.

"It feels nice." Cas told her.

"How would you feel about doing this every once in a while, after the lice go away?" Hannah asked. It seemed to do him some good.

"Why?" Cas asked.

"Because, I think it might be good for your wings." Hannah explained.

Cas was quiet for a moment, the wheels spinning in his little mind. "Mommy?"

"Yes, little one?" Hannah responded.

"How come we got wings but no one else does?" Cas asked.

Hannah paused in shock. "How do you know Mommy has wings?"

"I can see them." Cas answered pointing to where, in his view, were the outlined of broken wings.

 _Of course._ Hannah thought. Cas saw the world the same way other angels did. It was why he could see Luna the Reaper. Of course, he could see her wings. "H-How long have you been able to see them?"

Cas shrugged. "I dunno."

Hannah sat Cas on the floor. "Mommy will be right back; she just needs to talk to Daddy." Then she fled, leaving Cas _very_ confused.

"I know we would have to tell them eventually and they would probably hate us, but I wasn't ready for it to be this soon." Hannah told Sam, pacing the floor of their bedroom.

"Hannah, you need to calm down." Sam urged, "It's going to be okay; we'll figure this out. Maybe we don't have to tell them _everything._ "

"What do you mean?" Hannah asked.

"I mean, we tell them part of the truth." Sam explained, "What you and Cas are, but we leave out the deaging part."

Hannah paused. That could actually work, but there was still one thing that she was worried about. "What if he asks why my wings are broken?"

Sam just looked at her sadly. He hated to see the pain in her eyes when she said that. "That I don't know."

Finally, they walked back in to where the boys were sitting. "Come on, Dean." Sam said, trying to stay casual as he picked the youngster up, "Mommy and Cas need a moment alone."

"Why?" Dean asked.

"I'll explain it to you in a minute." Sam promised, walking into the other room.

Hannah just stared at Castiel for a moment a lump in her throat.

"Am I'se in trouble?" Cas asked worried.

That broke Hannah out of her stupor. "No, you're not in any trouble little one. "She assured him, sitting down and pulling him to her lap, "Mommy just wanted to talk to you about your question from earlier, about our wings." After a beat she asked, "Do you know what an angel is?"

"Maudie talks about them sometimes." Cas told her, "Miss Nelle too. They say the work for God."

 _Well, she was close._ "And did they mention angels having wings?" Hannah questioned.

Cas' eyes widened as he started to get it. "Are we angels?"

Hannah nodded. "Yes."

"Are…are Dean and Daddy angels?" Cas asked.

"No." Hannah admitted, "But Daddy still loves you very much and I love Dean very much. It doesn't matter." Then she braced herself for the question that she felt was evitable.

Instead, toddler's mind was already on another track, "But—why can everyone seen mine, buy they'se can't see yours?"

Hannah let out a sigh of relief. "Humans normally can't a see our wings, but—something happen to yours a while back, that made them able to be seen by everyone." She absentmindedly ran her hand through his downy, oily feathers. "We think they might go back to normal when you get bigger." At least that was the hope.

Cas was quiet for a long while. "Mommy?" He asked finally.

"Yes, little one?" Hannah responded.

"Why do your wings have all those cracks and bends and things?" Cas asked.

Hannah could feel that lump in her throat again. "Something…something happened." She got out, "And they…. they broke."

"Did you go see a doctor?" Cas asked. This seemed like something you see a doctor about.

"No doctor can fix it." Hannah said, shaking her head, "No one can." She tried to fight back the tears welling up in her eyes. After two years, it was one of those things that was still raw.

"Oh, Mommy." Cas moaned, throwing himself at his mother and hugging her, starting to cry as well.

That was when Sam walked back into the room, leaving Dean in the other one, and found them in that state on the floor. Asking no questions, Sam went to his angels and scooped them up. "It's okay." He told them in a hushed tone, "You're going to be okay…"

Eventually Cas wound up crying himself to sleep, and they took him off into their room, Hannah lying on the bed next to him.

"Hannah…" Sam began, concerned. He knew this was hard thing for her to relieve. He knew she deal had a lot of trauma from the fall. From the things that happened after.

"Sam, can you give me a minute alone, please?" Sam requested, her voice a raspy whisper.

"I'll be right down the hall if you need me." Sam told her, reluctantly leaving.

Hannah lay on the bed for a moment, listening to Sam's footsteps echoing down the hall and stared at the child sleeping next to her. Taking a shuttering breathe, she closed her eyes, everything flooding back suddenly.

 _She's pacing back and forth across the hall, on high alert. Back then, she had picked a side, well, maybe not a side, but she was part of a group. She had been century before everything went wrong, so she got guard duty of their little area of Heaven a lot._

 _Suddenly everything around her starts to shake. She's not sure what's going on, but she know it's not good. "Sisters!" She calls out, trying to warn them._

 _That's when the screaming started._

 _Its chaos all around her, knows one knows what going on. Did someone do something? Was this an attack? Had Castiel come back to finish off the rest of them ? Suddenly she can see Raquel running to her, calling her name, reaching out to her with her vessel's hand, but before they can get to each other, they're ripped from Heaven itself, and suddenly she's falling, falling faster then she ever thought possible, and everything felt like it was on fire, and suddenly she's hitting the ground. She can't think. She can't even wonder what's happening is why. Her world is pain._

She wasn't even aware she was screaming at first until she heard Dean shouting, "Mommy!" And then footsteps running down the hall.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" Cas asked, awake and alert and alarmed, sitting up on the bed.

"I was…remember something bad." Hannah admitted, tears forming in her eyes.  
By then Sam arrived, shallowing hard and trying not to show how much it hurt him, too. But he had to be strong. For her. For Hannah. For his angel. He sat down on the bed and took her in his arm. "Hannah, you're here with me. You're safe. Nothing can hurt you while your in my arms. You will always have me. And the boys."

As if to emphasize that point, both boys hug her as well, Dean her leg, Cas her arm, trying to comfort their mother.

"I know, Sam." Hannah murmured, a sense of piece coming over her.

Later that week, they were doing the wet coming to check on the progress. After looking at the comb, Sam said, "You know, I don't see anything."

"Me neither." Hannah responded.

"Does this mean no more lices?" Dean spoke up hopefully.

"Not entirely." Sam admitted, wanting to be as honest as possible, "But it's a start."

The next week, Reason finally felt comfortable enough to bring Maudie over. They stepped in and Maudie saw her friends, trying to run to them, but Reason grabbed her. She wasn't _that_ ready.

"What's that on your heads?" Maudie asked, jumping up and down.

"They help make the bugs go away." Dean answered, poking at his shower cap.

"How?" Maudie asked.

"I dunno." Cas admitted.

The week after that, Sam was in the bathroom, running the comb through Dean's hair. It had been a week since they had found the last knit, so this was the one that would put them in the clear.

"So?" Hannah asked, looking over at him nervously for where she had been wet-combing Cas.

Sam carefully examined the comb, his heart jumping for joy in his chest at what he found. "There's nothing there! You?"

"Nothing!" Hannah announced joylessly, "Same with the wings."

"Yeah!" Sam exclaimed in joy and the pair gave each other high-fives.

"Does that mean we don't have to where the hats anymore?" Dean asked.

"Yes." Sam exclaimed, picking the shower cap off and throwing it away. "You definitely do not have to war the hats anymore!"

All was well into later that day. Sam was walking the dogs when suddenly his head started itching. And it wouldn't stop itching for the rest of the day.

"Oh crap." He declared a few hours later, realizing what it must be.

"Yep." The doctor at the walk-in clinic declared, examining the sample she just took. "It's head lice."

Sam sighed wearily. "But how? I mean, we didn't put anything on our heads, we washed everything, they boys were covered, lice don't jump…"

"It can be next to impossible to determine the exact urgent of where it came from. "the doctor told him, writing on the prescription pad, "Just did everything you did for the boys, it should be fine. Also, I could consider a temporarily haircut."

That was how Sam wound up staring in the mirror at his new short locks. Now he remembered why he always wore his hair on the longer side. Because he had an oval-shaped face that made short hair look goofy on him.

Walking by the bath room, Hannah paused and walked back. "Sam," She began, "Everything okay?"

"Hannah tell, me, how much of a complete gobber do I look like?" He asked.

Hannah walked in and put her arms around him. "You don't look like a gobber." Admittedly it was weird seeing him with short hair. "You're just not use to it this way."

"No, no, it's not just that." Sam declared, tugging at the locks, "I can't believe I have to go around like this."

"It's just until the lice are gone and it grows back." Hannah assured him, rubbing his back.

Sam, however, would not be soothed. "Oh, that's going to take so long."

That's when Hannah got an idea. She took the scissors off the counter, grabbed her hair and started to cut it.

"Hannah, no, no, no!" Sam exclaimed in alarmed, when realized what she was doing.

"Oh, it's only hair." Hannah responded, no-chalantly, still cutting, "It's only hair."

"Yeah, but yours doesn't grow back!" Sam pointed out, "The whole not aging thing, remember?"

"I can heal it as yours grows." Hannah reasoned, finishing the job, now holding a think mass of curly hair in her hand, "We'll do this together."

Sam's heart did a weird pucker. "You didn't have to do that."

"I know." Hannah replied, putting down the hair and taking his hand, "I wanted to. You were there for me when I needed it, I want to do the same for you."

Sam wasn't sure the situations compared, but if anything that made the gesture more touching. He leaned in and kissed her. "I love you so much right now." After a he pulled back, saying, "I mean, not that I don't normally, it's just…."

"I know what you meant." Hannah assured him, bringing his chin up and kissing him.

 **AN: Yeah, this went a couple of places I wasn't intending.**


	66. IG Joes

Sam was doing a wet comb check, he was in the second week of eradicating his lice infestation, when his phone went off. Checking the caller ID and seeing it was Charlie she picked it up. "Hey."

"Hey." Charlie greeted him nervously, "How the pest control going?"

"It's going." Sam replied, checking the comb, "The good news is I haven't found anymore." Concerned by the tone of her voice, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just—I did something I probably shouldn't have." Charlie confessed, "I sent the boys a present."

"Ah, Charlie, you've sent them things before, it's never really been an issue." Sam commented.

Since she got back, every few months or so, Charlie would find a little thing while on the job that she would buy and send to her 'nephews' because basically she liked spoiling them even before she officially began an honorary aunt. A local confection here, a dala horse from a craft fair that happened to be in a haunted building there….

"Not this big." Charlie responded, "I really should have consulted you guys on this one. It should be at your P. O box by now…"

After the call Sam drove into the post office to P. O box where they got their mail, and sure enough, there was a large white tub with red lid and red plastic on the metal handle.

"You know, we'd rather you not receive things that are bigger than the box." The man at the front desk told him, bringing it out and setting it down.

"Sorry." Sam apologized, opening the box and found it filled to the brim with green plastic army men.

After some consulting back at the bunker Hannah brought the boys into the main part of the bunker. "What's that?" Dean asked, pointing at the tub when he saw it.

"This is a gift from Aunt Charlie," Sam said, opening the lid.

Dean came up to examine it and his face lit up when saw all the green men inside, trying to climb up to get to it. Sam picked him up the youngsters grabbed two handfuls. "Cas, come look!"

Cas came over and looked in the tub and immediately started grabbing as well.

 _I take it that means they like them._ Sam though, watching the boys begin to play.

Soon after that Sam and Hannah began to figure out why Charlie regretted the gift. There were a _lot_ of army men, two hundred and fifty to be exact, they were small, and combined with the cleaning abilities of a three-year-old, which aren't always the best, little surprises started popping up…

The first one happened just after they put the kids to bed. Hannah had to double back to her own room for a moment and Sam was heading towards the stacks, when he saw two little army men in the middle of the hall. "What the…" He began, then deucing they got accidently left in the night's cleaning, Sam picked them up and doubled back to the boy's room, carefully sneaking in and putting them in the bucket.

The next day Sam had returned from work, coming down the stairs, stopping just to avoid stepping on a line of army men guarding the last step. Sam sighed, bending to pick them up, when his eyes glanced around the room and realized that the army men weren't only guarding the stairs. In fact, the entire perimeter of the room, and the tables and chairs and bookshelves, were lined with little green army men.

Sam didn't know whether to be annoyed or impressed. "Boys!" He called out, "Could you come in here for a minute?"

The boys walked in followed by their mother, all of them stopping at the line of army men at the door.

"What's with all the army men guys?" Sam asked.

"The IG Joes protecting the house." Dean explained, not seeing the problem.

Sam had tried to teach the boys the term 'GI Joe' when the toys first came, but being little, Dean got the letters mixed up, calling them IG Joes and Cas went by what Dean did. In the end Sam decided to just go with it.

"When did you have time to do this?" Hannah asked, somewhat amazed and also wondering how they had set this up without her noticing.

"We did it while you'se were making lunch." Cas answered.

"Well, it was a nice gesture," Sam began, still picking up army men, "But when you leave all the IG—GI Joes around, Daddy trips over them and steps on them."

"You do?" Dean asked seeming genuinely surprised by this.

"Yeah." Sam told them, "So you can't leave them around everywhere or you could hurt someone."

Both boys cast their eyes down. "Sorry, Daddy." Both said as about the same time.

"It's alright, you didn't know." Sam assured them, as it had been an innocent mistake, "Just—help get these picked up, okay?"

"Okay." The boys agreed, coming to help.

After lunch, Hannah was loading her car to make some deliveries. She sat the box in the back and looked up and saw one of the army men, gun pointed out, on her dashboard.

"How'd you get in here?" Hannah wondered aloud, picking up the toy and putting it in her jacket to give back to the boys later.

That night Sam woke up with a pressing on his bladder. "Hon, can you unlatch? I have to go."

Hannah unwrapped her arms and Sam got out of the bed, walking to the bathroom when he took a step down and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his foot. "Ow! Ga! Ow!"

"Are you alright?!" Hannah asked, alarmed, sitting up right in the bed and going for the lamp.

"Yeah, I just stepped on something." Sam explained.

Hannah got the lamp on, revealing a G. I. Joe standing in front of the door staring up at Sam in almost intimidating matter.

"When would they even have done that?" Hannah wondered again.

"I don't know." Sam responded, not really in a mood for speculation, "But I do know the bathroom does not need guarding." And then he went—more carefully, to finish doing his business.

"I've only encountered a Lamia once." Sam was telling Clive over the phone, going through a self of books, "It can be killed with a knife blessed by Priest, or…" He strained his memory for the other method as he looked on the self for a book on the subject.

"Can you tell him to hurry up?!" Bonnie shouted from Clive's side of the conversation, being thrown against the walls by a dark-haired, dark _clawed_ creature, "I'm about to become a Grecian kabob here!"

Clive fired a shot to divert the creature's attention, which would up be working a little _too_ well. "No, no, no, no…" He chanted, running away from the Lamia charging him.

Sam found the book he needed, he found right in front of it was jointed wooden lion toy, another gift from Charlie that the boys shared, upon which road a green army man.

"What the—" Sam began, brushing it aside, "How did it even get up here?"

"What?!" Clive responded, thinking Sam was still talking to him, running away from the Lamia.

Bonnie grabbed a red table cloth from the table, fanning it out in front of the creature and calling, "Hey! Hey, hey, hey!"

"It's not a bull, babe!" Clive shouted, still running.

"Well, you got a better idea?!" Bonnie challenged.

Suddenly Sam remembered. "Okay, cover it and rosemary and salt and then set it on fire."

"Bonnie, get salt, rosemary and a blow torch!" Clive shouted back.

Bonnie did and together they managed to cover the creature in the salt-rosemary mixture before setting it ablaze.

"Thanks, Sam." Clive sighed, the Lamia's warbling scream in the back ground.

"Don't mention it." Sam responded, before hanging up.

"These are tiny." Maudie said, examining a little army man who was at attention, "What can you do with them?"

"You can do lots of things." Dean told her, "You can fight with them, you can guard things with 'em…"

"But if you put 'em in front of the stairs Daddy'll step on them." Cas reminded his brother.

"Can we play with 'em now?" Maudie asked, interested.

Within five minutes, two great armies had amused on the floor, Maudie's on one side, Dean and Cas' on the other. Between the two armies they also had two colorful clay horses, a t-rex, a brontosaur, a jointed wooden lion, two baby iguanodons, Elsa, Dana Scully, and a pink plastic bunny.

"Charge!" Dean exclaimed army men started shooting at and hitting each other, along with their assembled allies.

Once again, Sam had to be pee. Once again, he crossed the threshold to the bathroom, he felt a sharp pain as he stepped on a GI Joe.

"Again?" Hannah asked, turning on the light.

"Yes, again." Sam seethed, picking up the toy, "We might need to have a talk with them about this."

"I'm home!" Hannah called out the next day, heading down the stairs.

"Mommy!" Both boys called out, running for her.

She scooped them both up in her arms. After the morning she had, a little toddler therapy was just what needed.

"Bad day?" Sam guessed, sensing his wife's agitation, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Yes." Hannah confirmed, finally letting go of the boys and heading towards the kitchen to set down what she had yet to sell, "The car did that –sputtering and nearly stopping thing twice on the way there, and then Lyla wasn't home when she usually is, and I didn't get the message until I actually got there, which wouldn't have been an issue except her neighbor's dog, which I'm pretty sure might actually be part Hellhound chased me back to the car where it managed to basically hold me captive for thirty minutes until its owner came to fetch it, then I stopped by the check cashing place on the way home and there was this woman who in spite of me being in the line with her refused to believe I didn't work here and kept demanding I help her—" She opened the freezer when there was a bag of minicure bars and found the bag surrounded by army men, guns out.

"The IG Joes are protecting the chocolate." Cas explained.

"How did you even get the door open?" Hannah wondered grabbing a small bar of dark chocolate and shutting the door.

"Some of these places I don't even know how they're putting them there, Jody." Sam told his friend over the phone, as he picked up a line of army men in the hall, one after another like bread crumbs, "Like, yesterday, they somehow got in the freezer and put a bunch of them around the emergency chocolate."

"You actually keep a stash of emergency chocolate?" Jody responded.

"For really bad owies, consistent potty usage, and the occasional really bad day." Sam summarized.

"Getting back on the subject Jody said, "Look said, the best you can do, is remind them to put up their toys and wait it out until they move on something with less parts."

Sam stared at the handful of GI Joes in his hand, "That day can't come soon enough."

While he knew Jody knew what she was talking about and valued her views, Sam decided to get a second opinion to make sure there really wasn't _anything_ they could do to speed this along.

"Oh, I hated James' army men phase." Missouri told him over the phone, "You had to watch where you stepped all the time, he'd somehow get them in the oddest places, just like your boys, even I couldn't predict where they all would be. I took to wearing shoes in the house all the time until it was over." After a beat Missouri continued, "But the Sheriff is right Sam. The best you can do, is remind them to pick them up, and wait it out."

The next time Sam got up to pee, he turned the lamp on before he even got out of the bed. Sure enough, GI Joe was standing guard. Getting up, Sam picked him up and put him on the bathroom sink.

Dressed in a gray robe, Hannah stared in the mirror, carefully rolling the last of the curling things in her hair and wondering if it this was how it was supposed to smell.

She had finally grown out her hair enough to start curling it, so after some consulting, she got a home perm kit, and Sam was good enough to watch the kids while she tried to use it.

Hannah looked down at the directions reading aloud. "Thirty minutes…." Not know what else to do, she walked over to the toilet to sit down, when suddenly she felt something crunch under her feet. Moving her foot, she looked down, and her eyes widened with horror.

Lying on the ground, in crumbled pieces was a little GI Joe.

Sam was reading to the boys when he heard Hannah's strained voice call out, "Sam! Can I see you in here a minute, please?"

Sam sat the boys down and hurried into the bedroom, and found Hannah staring down at the floor. "What's wrong?" He asked running to her.

Hannah pointed down at the broken army man.

Sam sighed. "Well," He began picking up the pieces, "I guess it's time for the 'pick up your toys' talk."

"Sam, no." Hannah responded, gripping his arm, "We can't. Not like this. "After a beat she asked, "How—how do I face them?"

"Hannah, it's just a little army man." Sam told her, "There's 249 more where this guy came from."

"It's their prized possession right now." Hannah pointed out, "We—we have to get rid of it." She whirled around and opened the toilet, "Here. Put it in."

"Hannah, there's no need to go digging teeny tiny shallow graves." Sam assured her, "You're Mommy. They're not going to be made at you. They'll probably be a little sad, but they're not going to disown you."

"Okay." Hannah agreed, starting to calm down.

As they walked into the room the boys were in, they found them franticly searching. "Daddy, where's our IG Joes?" Dean asked, running up to them, his arms spread out.

"Look around man, they're everywhere." Sam responded, "This bunker looks like the beaches of Normandy."

"Where's Normandy?" Cas asked, removing a book.

"We can get back to that later." Sam said, "Right now, we need to talk about the I-the GI Joes."

And so, they set them down showed the GI Joe, explaining what happened. And yes, they were upset.

"Now, we know you feel bad about the GI Joe, and we're sorry it broke." Sam began.

"Mommy is especially sorry." Hannah added, "She really, really, didn't mean to."

"Yes, but this is why we need to pick our toys up." Sam finished, "So they don't get broke."

The boys shifted on their feet. "Can you help us find them to put up?" Dean asked.

"Sure thing, bud." Sam readily agreed.

And so, they went through the entire bunker, pulling army men from under beds and chairs and cotches and plucked from shelves.

"I'se found one!" Dean shouted in victory, pulling one from under one of the bedrooms.

Cas jumped up and down, getting a line of army men from the shelf. Soon he had a handful of GI Joes, holding them in each hand.

The adults were searching through the kitchen as they knew the boys had been playing with them in there, checking the fridge looking under the tables. Hannah pulled out the stove expecting to see one of two that had slid under there, but instead, found roughly fifty.

"An IG Joe prisoner camp." Sam quipped, before the adults crouched to begin the rescue mission.

"Okay, I think that's the last of them." Sam declared, putting the lib back on the tub.

"And the IG Joe's'll be safe now?" Cas asked hopefully.

"If we can keep them picked up." Sam countered. When the boys looked a little dejected, Sam said, "Me and Mommy'll help you, okay?"

"Okay." The boys agreed together, then Dean hugged Sam's legs. "Thank you, Daddy."

"Thank you." Cas repeated.

That night, as the boys slept, Sam crept into their rooms. It took an hour's work and the borrowing of a hot glue gun, which was apparently the only type of gun they didn't own, but Sam was able to fit the army man Hannah stepped on. Carefully sitting on the shared beside table, he crept back out, as not to wake them.


	67. The Storage Unit

**Wichita, Kansas**

 **A Week Earlier**

"This one looks like a lot of crafts stuff or something." Georgia told her mother, holding the phone on which the video call was happening on to try to see.

Georgia's dad sorted mail in local post-office branch, but on the side, he bought storage units at auction and sold the contents. If the contents were good it could be pretty lucrative, but they also ran the risk of basically buying trash, which was her mother wanted to put her two cents in, even when she couldn't come to the auction with them, like today.

"The auction starts in five minutes, we gotta hurry this up." Her dad warned, holding the flashlight as they went through what would be their only opportunity to see the container contents unless they bought it.

"Chill, we're at the last one." Georgia advised, heading to the last one. She couldn't make out much, but there was at least one row of boxes with white markings of sometime. "What the heck is that?"

"Let's call this one a maybe." Her dad commented, "Come on."

As the auction went on, the father-daughter duo somehow got outbid on every storage container they tried for, which made them even more determined to win the last one when it came up, rather than leave empty handed.

"I got one eighty, do I hear two thousand?" The auctioneer, a plainly dressed woman with long black hair asked, going about a mile a minute.

"Two thousand!" Georgia's dad held up his pattel.

"Mom is gonna kill you." Georgia predicted, but she smiled as she said it.

"Two thousand." The auctioneer repeated, "Do I hear two ten? Two ten anybody, two ten?"

"Two ten!" Another buyer called out, holding up his panel.

"Two thirty!" Georgia's dad called out, before the auctioneer could even ask for another bid.

"Two thirty!" The auctioneer recapped, "Do I heat two thousand and forty?"

No one responded.

"Two thirty going once, twice…" The auctioneer anouched, "Sold! To the man in the blue t-shirt and over shirt!"

Finally, they got to see what was in the storage unit for real. They opened the door and Georgia eagerly ran inside, before her dad saw something that made him put his arm in front of her. "Look."

Just avoid the unit's concrete floor ran a length of fishing wire that ended in a saw-off shot gun.

"What the—" Georgia's dad began, going over and defusing the booby trap before he realized what he was doing. Once he did, he said, "You know what, I'm gonna go get the manager—"

"No way!" Georgia exclaimed, "There has to be something good in there for them to rig that up to protect it."

"Or they could just be nuts." Her dad countered, looking down at the weird circles with symbols painted with green dayglow, wondering if he had just bought a storage unit that had belong to a Satanist. Seeing a whole display of guns, he walked over to it. That was when he saw it A little blue glass figurine, small enough to fit in his hand, a featureless woman with a blunt haircut.

"A Jenny Doll?" Georgia asked, coming over to look at it.

"I'll have to run it by the appraisers to be sure, but yeah." Her Dad confirmed, "Not exactly what I'd booby trap a place to protect."

Georgia's eyes scanned the room. "But we don't know what's in the boxes yet." She grinned.

"Georgia, wait!" Her dad called out as she ran over to the selves, "Remember what happened the last time you went through stuff unsupervised?"

Georgia however, just picked up a box and took it off the self. "Alright." Her dad gave him, coming over to her, "Open it."

She did and found a shriveled, dried out orange decorated with cloves, all tied up in a pale green ribbon.

"What?" Georgia scrunched her face up in confusion, not even sure what she was looking at.

"It's a pomander." Her dad explained, picking it up by the ribbon, "An old one by the looks of it." After a beat he declared, "At this rate your mom's gonna kill me."

 **Lebanon Kansas**

 **A Week Later**

Sam stood on The Fliutt's front step holding a box containing a chicken and green bean casserole, scrambled egg bake, meatballs in barbeque sauce, and some chicken and root vegetable dish called comforting chicken in the recipe, so it seemed to fit the bill for the occasion. Georgia and her cushion Lennie hadn't been into work all week because Georgia's dad was in the hospital so everybody at the kennel got together and made a care package.

He ran the bell and waited. Nothing happen. He rang again. He shifted awkwardly a few moments before calling out. "Um, hello?"

Thinking they must be at the hospital, Sam sat the box on the step and began to write a note, when he heard noise inside. Was that…crying? And dogs barking? Newly concerned, he began knocking on the door. "Georgia?!" He called out, "Hey! Are you okay in there?!  
That was when the curtain was pulled opened from the inside and girl the same age as Georgia with boyishly short reddish-brown hair and brown eyes peaked out.

Sam didn't have much contact with Lennie because she worked with the cats, but he knew that she was Georgia's cusion, that her aunt and uncle were raising her, that she had intellectual disabilities and that Georgia looked out for her, hence the kennel job.

"Hey, uh, Lennie, right?" Sam began, "I'm Sam, I work with your cusion. Is, um, everything okay in there?"

"Georgia won't come out of the bathroom." Lennie told him, "The trio won't start barking."

Sam thought a minute. Could just be a distraunt teenager and some agrro dogs. Or it could be something worst. "Okay, ah, can you let me in?"

"Aunt Cara said I wasn't supposed to let anyone in who didn't call first." Lennie told him.

Sam was silent a moment. He knew this was none of his business, but, damnitt, something was clearly going on in there! "That's, ah, that's a good rule." He admitted finally, "Tell you what, can you call Aunt Cara and asked if it's okay to let me in?"

Ten minutes later, Lennie opened the door holding a pink taser. "Aunt Cara says you can check on Georgia, but then you have to leave."

"Okay, that's fair." Sam agreed. That was he noticed the red string wrapped around Lennie's wrist and…was that a little swastika on her hand? "Ah, Lennie's what's there?" He pointed to the string and swastika.

"Georgia pit it on me." Lennie explained, "She said it would stop me from getting sick like Uncle Phil."

Filing that under 'things to inquire about later' Sam asked, "Which way to your bathroom?"

Lennie pointed down the hall and Sam saw where one full-blooded gray pit pull and two pit mixes, one orangey and tan and one brindle, were barking their heads off in front of the door.

"Ah, hey guys." Sam greeted the dogs awkwardly, walking towards the dogs, "You, um, mind if I get in here?"

The dogs quieted down pulling back and letting Sam pass as if they knew Sam was there to help. "Thanks guys." He told them walking back and opened the door, and found Georgia huddled up on her toilet, her face red and wet with tears, snot dripping from her noise. She had clearly been crying for some time.

"Georgia?" Sam asked.

Georgia looked up at the sound of his voice. "Sam? What are you doing here?"

"I was coming over to drop some things off and I heard—all this going on inside." Sam began, walking into the bathroom proper and crouching down in front of them, pulling out a tissue and handing it to her, "Did your—did your dad get worst or something?"

Georgia shook her head. "He's not getting worst but he's not getting any better. And the doctors can't figure out what's wrong, and—and—and it's all my fault!" Fresh tear began to pour. There. She had said it out loud. She hadn't told anyone before. Not even her mother. She would just think she was crazy. Of course, Sam was probably going to think she was crazy too.

"Georgia—why would you think that?" Sam responded.

Georgia rubbed her face with the tissue, wiping away some of the tears. "You're going to think I'm crazy."

"Georgia, I promise you I won't." Sam assured her, "But you're worrying us here. So why don't you just—take a deep breath, and tell me?"

Georgia took a shaky breath, then began. "Last week we were at this auction in Wichita. The storage unit we won—it was weird. Like, they had booby trapped the entrance, and they had—guns everywhere and there was this circle on the floor with like satanic markings or something, and there were boxes. Black boxes with even more of the symbols or whatever they were. ..."

Suddenly Sam thought he knew what was going on here. "Georgia, this is important, did you—did you open any of those boxes?"

"We opened all the boxes!" Georgia exclaimed, "And the next day dad wouldn't wake up." After a beat she asked, "You think I'm crazy, right?"

"Actually no." Sam told her, "Georgia, where's the contents from that storage union now?"

Georgia lead them out to the garage off their house, opening it. "It's all in here." As she led Sam in, she continued, "We put everything back in the box they came in, in case—and case they were worth more that way."

Sam's eyes went over everything box. There had to be, what, thirty? "And you touched _all_ of these?"

"At least one of this did." Georgia confirmed, "Sam—what was all that stuff in your car?"

"I'll explain later." Sam said, taking the tongs he had grabbed from the Impala as picking up the little glass figurine on a table. "What about this?"

"It wasn't in a box." Georgia explained, "It was just—sat out next to some guns."

"Okay." Sam began, sitting down the figurine, "First I'm going to get you and Linnie some actual protection. Um, I'm guessing that was what you were trying to do with the red sting and—swastika?"

"I saw it T _he X-Files._ " The teenager explained, "Apparently before Hitler got ahold of it, it was used to ward off evil spirits."

"Alright, well, I'm going to go get some better stuff that won't cause an incident." Sam said heading back to the Impala.

As she watched her co-worker head back to the car, Georgia asked, "Sam? How do—how do you know about this stuff?"

Sam turned back around. "You night need to sit down a minute." Georgia did, then he began. "Okay, you know that all that stuff you were told wasn't real? Magic, the paranormal?"

Georgia nodded.

"They're real." Sam came out with it, "And I hunt those things. Or at least I use to before the twins happened. I've actually been acting in more of an advisory role for serval months now. The point is, I know what we need to do."

He was walking back to get the protections when Georgia called out, "Sam?!"

Sam turned around once more.

"That's means you can save my dad, right?" She asked, as desperate gleam in her eyes.

Sam didn't want to lie to her. "I'll do everything I can."

Sam got the girls set up and then took the contents back to the bunker, spreading anything out on a table, trying to find anything that could give him a clue to the hunter who had owned the storage unit, hopping they could direct him to which cursed object put Georgia's dad into a coma, thought, considering they let the payments lasp in the first place, he feared the worst.

"Is that a—butter dish?" Hannah asked, looking into one of the boxes, perplexed.

"With enough curse mojo you could turn Coat into a weapon of mass destruction." Sam told, "Hey, do me a favor, out that down."

That was Dean speed from under the table on all fours through Sam legs and under his chair, going, "Arf, arf."

"Let me guess, someone's going through the puppy dog phase." Sam deduced.

Hannah nodded.

"And, uh, where's our other little puppy dog?" Sam asked.

"Curled up on a pillow, sleeping." Hannah answered, "I'll go see if this one wants to go for a walk, give you some time to work."

"Much appreciated." Sam told her as she walked away going back to work. That was when his phone rang. After checking the caller ID, he picked it up. "Hey, Missouri."

"Hello, Sam." Missouri responded, "I called because I had some visions and I don't have all the details but there's this family of hunters, the Parkers, I've known the oldest boy for a few years now, helped him out with a—personal situation you could say. Joel—"

"Joel and Clive." Sam guessed, having an inkling he knew them too, "Joel has a daughter and Clive's got a girlfriend he hunts with."

"Yeah, and their sister has a more permanent job out in Texas." Missouri added, "You know them?"

"I met Clive and Bonnie on a job a few months back." Sam explained, "They wouldn't happen to have a storage Unit out in Witcha they defaulted on, would they?"

"I don't know about them but apparently their parents kept a couple across the country and one of them did get lost when—well, if I'm right about this, they'll tell you. But if I am right, don't sniff that pomander. Trust me."

Sam looked down at the box with the pomander in it and quickly closed the lid. "Thanks for the tip."

In a motel in Michigan, Bonnie was on the bed painting her nails, as she had recently been advised it important to do little things that made her feel good about herself as a woman, as Clive showered the dirt off from the latest ghoul hunt, when Clive's phone started ring. "Clive, your phone ringing, I'm gonna answer it!"

"Okay!" Clive called back as she took the phone off of the table.

"Clive's phone, his manic pixie dream girl speaking." Bonnie greeted the caller.

"Hey, Bonnie, it's Sam." He began, "I, ah, I got a problem that I was told you may be able to help me with. I have a friend whose dad does the whole storage unit boxes auction thing, and he accidently wound up buying what looks a like a hunter's storage unit with a bunch of curse boxes and either one or both of them touched—just about everything, and the girl's fine but her dad's in a coma, and I just got a call from this—physic acquaintance who said—"

Something clicked for Bonnie at that point. "Sam, can you describe some of the things for me. Is there's this—orange covered with cloves, would have a green ribbon around it."

"Yeah." Sam confirmed.

"Fake onyx ring?" Bonnie questioned.

"I don't know if it's fake, but it is onyx." Sam replied, "I least I think it is, I'm not a precious stone expert."

"Copy of _For Whom the Bell Tolls,_ looks like it might have been published when Hemingway was still alive _?"_ Bonnie continued.

"Yes." Sam answered.

By that time Bonnie had lept off the bed and was heading for the bathroom. "Just a hunch, but, un, was there a little glass figurine, blue, a woman, that wasn't in a box?"

"Yes," Sam admitted, "How do you know all this?"

"I'll let Clive tell you." Bonnie replied, before pulling back the curtain, catching her boyfriend off guard.

"Babe!" He exclaimed startled, "I'm not in the mood!"

"No, it's not that," Bonnie said, holding out the phone, "I think Sam might have your parent's storage unit. You know, the one that nobody could figure out where it was after Jenny-" She made a wide swirling gesturing with her hand.

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Clive asked flatly.

Getting back on subject Bonnie told him. "There was a glass figurine inside. Not in a curse box."

That got Clive to turn off the water and step out while taking a towel to get the last of the soap out of his hair, requesting, "Give me the phone."

Bonnie handed it to him. "I'll pack." With that she turned and headed out of the room.

"Hey, Sam." Clive began, "Would you mind elaborating on this for me?"

Sam explained everything.

"Yeah, it sounds like that could be one of my parents' old units." Clive confirmed, "I never saw any of the stuff myself, but there were stories they would tell from time to time after you got a few rounds in them, and—some of them involves things like you describe."

"But why did they let the payments go…." Sam began, then the likely explanation dawned on him, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, are…"

"Dad yes, Mom, no." Clive said, "But, over a year ago she started…forgetting things. Then more things. "Clive's voice trailed off for a moment. "And the thing is, she handled the finances and by the time we realized what was happening, she had lost track of a lot of things, missed payments. We got most of it covered eventually but we could never fine this one storage unit, because the best she could tell us was the Bible Belt. Doesn't exactly narrow it down." Clive was quiet a long moment. "I'll, ah, I'll text you some coridence, meet us there, and we'll try to see if we can't figure out what this kid's dad under."

"Okay." Sam agreed, "Thanks."

"No problem." Clive agreed.

"Hey," Sam began, concerned, "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah." Clive assured him, "In fact, we probably owe you one. Listen you probably know this already, but, un, don't touch anything with your bare hands. I don't know what everything does, and what I do know—" He made a grunting noise, his voice raising up and down, "Just—just be careful."

"Will do." Sam agreed, before hanging up and gathering up the boxes. It looked like he had some driving to do.


	68. The Parkers

**AN: I'm so sorry this is a day behind. I went out of town this weekend and I tried to get everything updated before I left, but, I couldn't. I know it's not that big of deal, this story is not the end all and be all of your lives but I'm embarrassed about it, so, sorry.**  
The coridence Clive gave was too a small, old looking Victorian-style house in Peoria. There where was a minivan blocked in by a light blue truck with covered bed, and for some reason there was a big rig truck parked at the curbed.

Sam paralleled parked the car on the opposite side of the rig, just as Clive and Bonnie's car appeared on the street. They pulled in behind Sam.

"So, what is this place anyway?" Sam asked as the hunting couple got out of the car.

"It's in the family of one of mom's old hunting partners." Clive explained, "Before she met dad, she ran this group of lady hunters, she and the other two women who live here are the only ones left."

As they talked a woman who looked to be same age as Clive, with her hair in a sleek dark brown bob came walking off the porch and across the yard.

"I told you didn't have to come all the way out here." Clive told the woman as she reached them, both of them going in for a hug.

"Like I was going to trust you and Joel to handle this on your own." The woman quipped.

"Ah, what am I, chopped liver?" Bonnie pointed out.

"Good to see you, too, Bonnie." The woman said, hugging her as well.

That out of the way, Clive introduced the woman to Sam. "Sam, this is my baby sister Amity—"

"I'm only younger by five minutes." Amity protested.

"Amity, this is Sam Winchester, the one who found the unit." Clive finished.

"Like to say it was nice to meet, but, uh..." Amity gestured towards his car, where the contents of the storage object were.

"Oh, no, sure." Sam assured her.

"Joel's inside." Amity told them, "I'll get him to help getting these out."

Joel had his brother's light-colored hair, just more closely cut, with ropey muscles. When Sam opened the trunk, he reached down and pulled down, reaching for the glass figurine.

"I wouldn't— "Sam began as he picked up the figurine with his bare hand.

"It's alright, it's not cursed." Joel assured him, putting it on the cart they had found to make things go easier.

"Wait, if it wasn't cursed, why was it in there?" Sam asked, taking out the large cardboard box he had put half of the boxes in.

"She probably left it there on accident during one of her bad spells." Amity answered, taking the figurine so Joel could take the other box, then handed it to Clive to grab the box with the guns, who in turn handed it to Bonnie to grab the last box. "See, when Mom got pregnant with Joel, she and Dad tried to retire, settle down, raise us somewhere relativity safe. That didn't exactly work out. There was an issue with a neighbor sending harassing letters about their yard and a bear trap."

Sam turned to look at her. _What?_

"He lived." Amity assured him, "But while they were fleeing an attempted murder charge, this one of the things Mom grabbed. Dad got it for from a house-warming gift."

"Wait, so she managed to keep that intact, on the road for over thirty years?" Sam questioned. His best guess was Joel was the same age as Dean before the incident and the doll looked rather delete. Hunters had trouble hanging on to delicate things.

"Well, when you put it like that…" Amity responded, leading the way to kitchen, setting her box on the smooth kitchen table.

Just then there were the sound off feet down the stairs and skinny girl dressed in a black-shirt and jeans came down the stairs, saying, "Okay, Nim says Nana's up, but they're not sure…" Her voice trailed off, eyes that vibrated between maroon and violet widening when she realized who was with them. "Holy crow!" She pratically leaped over the rest of the stairs, stopping a few feet away from Sam, "You're…you're…."

"Sam Winchester," Sam introduced himself, visibly uncomfortable with her excitement, "I'm guessing your Carrie Anne."

Carrie Anne froze in pleased shocked. "Sam Winchester remembered by name." She said finally in stunned tone, "Sam Winchester remembered my name! Why didn't any of you tell me it was him?!"

"Because we knew you'd react like this." Clive responded.

"You could've at least given me some warning to….to…to clean up a little." Carrie protested, "Look at me, we got hunting royalty in the kitchen and I'm a mess."

"Carrie Anne, don't you have some reading to do?" Joel spoke up, trying to stop this from completelderailing and save the dignity of everyone involved.

"Got it done." Carrie Anne told him, "I know Tea Cake had rabies there at the end, but is just me or does Janie have terrible taste in men?"

"Well, to be fair, the first guy was her grandmother's idea, so…" Amity began.

"You finished the book?" Joel questioned, surprised, "The _whole_ book?"

"Yeah, and the first two stories from _A Good Man Is Hard to Fine."_ Carrie Anne confirmed.

"Okay, what about math?" Joel asked.

"Like, do you even know me?" Carrie Anne responded.

Taking that as yes, Joel tried, "That science worksheet?"

"Again, do you know me?" Carrie Anne told him.

"The social study quiz?" Joel questioned.

"Done." Carrie Anne informed him.

"The Latin verbs?" Joel challenged.

" _Factum."_ Carrie Anne responded.

"Recorder?" Joel asked.

"Practice for fifteen minutes and I really think that's all anyone can stand." Carrie Anne answered.

"Phone edquite practice?" Joel tried.

"Called Alison, Miss Valarie, and both of the Banes twins." Carrie Anne recapped, "At least five minutes, each conversation."

"That mock check book for life skills?" Joel gave one last attempt.

Carrie Anne handed Joel a packet of tiny slips of paper.

"Hey, Amity, would you mind looking at this for me when this is all over?" Joel requested, handing his little sister the booklet. Who in turn handed it to Clive asking, "Do you mind?" Clive looked at the booklet then handed it to his girlfriend with pleading look saying, "Bonnie, sweetheart, love of my life?"

Bonnie took the booklet. "I know you had an unconventional upbringing, but how is it that three grown adults do not know how to balance a checkbook?"

"Why do you think it's on the curriculum?" Joel pointed out, before giving it one more try, "Okay, but weren't you making a dress or something? Why don't you work on that while the adults talk, okay?"

"Okay." Carrie Anne agreed reluctantly, turning to leave.

"Hey." Joel spoke up, causing her to turn back around. "That's great about your reading. You've been doing a lot better and, un, after we deal with this cicris maybe it's time we revisit that issue we talked about."

Carrie Anne's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Really." Joel confirmed.

Carrie Anne let out an excited squeal and threw her arms around Joel. "Thank you, Dad!" Then she unlatched, running into the living room.

"Revisit what?" Clive spoke up.

"A couple months back she asked if she could get her ears pierced and I said we'd see if she improved in her reading." Joel explained, repeating in disbelief, "Pierced ears…"

"Um, what did I just witness?" Sam asked thoroughly confused by what just happened.

"Because they're on the road so much, Joel homeschools." Bonnie explained.

"Homeschools?" Sam repeated.

"Yeah, but not like the kind where the kids don't actually learn anything." Joel assured him nervously, "Like, she actually learns things. Kid's a real whiz at math. Surpassed my ability, I have to actually send screen shots of her homework for associates to grade for me. She's that good."

"Sounds like." Sam smiled at him. It's not that concept didn't concern him somewhat, but the man was clearly proud of his daughters accomplishments.

"As much as you love bragging about Carrie Anne to anyone who'll listen and I'm sure you two would love to compare notes, we have case." Clive reminded them.

They started by removing the cursed objects that they knew what the curse was.

"Butter dish?" Clive asked.

"Something about instant death. "Joel answered, "Might want to keep it in just in case."

"Pomander?" Amity asked, holding it up.

"Causes anyone who hangs it up in their house to be cursed with an unbearably obnoxious that has been documented to drive the people around them to kill them." Clive reminded her.

"This—meshy blue thing?" Joel questioned making a face.

"Don't know, that could be something." Amity admitted, "Put it in the maybe pile."

Just then there was the sound of footsteps on the stairs again, and a woman who looked to be in her sixties or maybe even seventies with creamy brown skin and short heard or salt and pepper hair, leading another woman who looked to be about in her sixties with long, steely gray hair pulled back in a ponytail down the stairs.

"Jenny, your kids are here." The leading woman told her gently.

Jenny smiled. "I haven't seen you all in the same place since…since…." Her voice trailed off and she looked upset that she couldn't remember.  
"Last April." Bonnie spoke up gently.

Jenny's face lit up. "Right."

Clive took over from there. "Mom this is our friend, Sam. A friend of his found one of your own storage unit and now her father's in a coma, we were hoping you could tell us which thing did it."

Jenny walked over to the table and looked at the contents, but her brain felt all …foggy. She wouldn't even remember finding half the things on the table. "You said…he was in a coma?"

"Persistent vegetative state, the doctors are saying." Sam elaborated, "He's not deteriorating or anything, he just…he just won't wake up."

Jenny studied the table some more. This should be easy. She should be able to remember _some_ case from that. Why was this so hard? "There were so many cases…so many…."

Clive reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Mom. We'll find it some other way."

"Come on, Jen." The other old woman said, putting a hand on her back, "Maybe you should sit down for a minute."

"I don't know…" Jenny moaned, getting increasingly upset, "I don't know…."

"It's okay." The other woman assured her, leading her away, shooting back an apologetic look at the hunters.

The was long, heavy pained silence after the women left. "The doctor's think it's dementia." Joel finally rasped, "They' re, um, not sure because there are some symptoms that aren't presenting quite right, but, ah, she's taking so many hits to the head there could be a TBI thrown in there for good measure for all we know."

"Sometimes she doesn't even recognize us." Clive added sadly, "She's thought both me and Joel are dad and then we have to try to tell her what happened all over again. Sometimes we just play along."

"I'm…I'm so sorry." Sam told him sincerely.

After another minute Bonnie asked soberly, "So, what now?"

"I have an idea." Amity spoke up, "But you're not gonna like it."

The others waited inside while Amity went back to her trunk, carrying a large box. "Okay, so a while back Mom asked me store some of her and Dad's old journals, recording, things like that. "She set the box on the table, which had been cleared of the storage unit contents, with a small _thud,_ "I have two more boxes in the back of my truck. Now, I know it's going to make everyone uncomfortable, and probably a violation of their privacy, but…"

"But we don't really have any other viable options." Clive finished.

Joel was the first to grab a red leather journal from the top of the stack. Clive and Amity then took that as their cue and each grabbed a book. Bonnie quickly snatched one before she lost her nerve. At last Sam tentively picked up one himself.

"We can rule out the ring." Amity spoke up as they were all noise-deep in one of the books.

"Which ring, there are five." Clive reminded her.

It had been an hour since they began reading the journals, and since, apparently both parents had been fanatical diarist, at least when it came to cases, they had been able to rule out about half the cursed objects in the storage unit.

Along the way, Sam had to hand several of the journal he was reading over to one of the assembled Parkers, because in addition to notes on creatures and the facts of the cases, both Jenny and the late RJ Parker sometimes slipped in more personal details that he didn't really feel he had the right to read especially when the woman was in the next room. Still he managed to learn that he father was an abusive drunk who she would run to local cemetery to hide from, which was how she wound up getting attacked by ghoul and rescued and taken in by an all-female group of hunters at the tender age of twelve. He learned she met RJ in her twenties when they were working the same case and it was basically love at first sight. He learned she never fully forgave herself for the bear trap incident and sometimes worried what would become of her kids because of it.

He also found out the family had come up with a few different hunting ideas over the years apparently.

"Hey guys, what this your parents keep mentioning punching monsters out with rings?" Sam asked finally, "It's brought up a couple of times. Here it says Jenny once punched a ghost out?"

Amity held up her hand revealing two bands on the fingers in-between her thumb and pinkie finger. Two were a steely gray, one a shiny silver. "You see these?"

"Uh-huh." Sam answered.

"This one's pure silver, the other two are pure iron." Amity explained, "You," She made a fish punched the air in front of her, "Casper dissipates long enough for you to set the fire. Same thing for werewolves and shifters and pretty much anything else affected by sliver. Except you know, less dissipating, more burning."

Sam grinned a little. "You think someone would've come up with that before."

"Sis, why do you even the sliver one for now, anyway?" Clive tease, "I thought you were strictly into ghosts now."

"Bonnie put you up to that, didn't she?" Amity teased back, "She's had her eyes on these since the moment she saw 'em."

"Hey, I got my own now." Bonnie pointed out, holding her hand out and bending it to either side. Yes, she had an almost identical set of rings.

"Strictly into ghosts?" Sam spoke up, unable to help himself.

"It's sort of an inside joke." Amity explained, "I was working a case of haunted _Motel 8_ out in Texas. Turns out the place was built on the same ground as a house that had been the scene of two different family massacres and that, as it turns out, had been built on the site of an ancient Indian burial ground."

Sam made a face, unpleasantly surprised.

"I know, the thing should probably be able to set off a gigger counter." Amity continued, " Anything, I manage to salt and burn the ghost _and_ deal with the poltergeist that had developed, but the manager saw the writing on the wall, figured there'd eventually be another problem, so he offered me nine thirty eight an hour and the room that they couldn't rent anymore because they couldn't fix all the fire damange and get all the bloodstains out if I'd stick around to help keep a lid on things. Fresh hex bags and salt lines every morning, hourly patrols, heavy duty cleansing ritual every two months, taught the all the maids a simple exorcism, and yes, on occasion it has still been necessary to use these." She made a fist, showing off the rings, "But, hey, not really a bad gig, as long as you can keep everyone from dying." Glancing over at her twin, she added, "And for the record I _did_ have to use the sliver a few weeks back when a guess unknowingly brought their pet Skinwalker along for the ride."

"Alright, alright, I get the picture." Clive surrendered.

Meanwhile, in the living room, on an ancient settee overly covered with newer, hand sown quilted or appliqued pillows, mostly the appliqued pillows, Carrie Anne slowly, carefully sewed another blue "V" stick near the hem of a long sleeved, red dress made with home spun fabric.

"You're really good at that, you know." Her grandmother's friend Nim, who was sitting next to Carrie Anne on the settee moving pillows as she talked, trying make conversation with the girls, "I've never been much for sewing, even though at the time it still something all girls did." After a moment she added, "What kind of stich is that? I think remember my mom having some handkerchiefs with that on it, back before—well, no need to break your heart with that."

"It's called a V-Stitch." Carrie Anne informed her softly, "They were real popular during World War II." She finally looked at the woman and made a V-sign with her fingers. "You know, V For Victory."

"Ah," Nim responded before removing another pillow, "Why do you keep making these pillows? Do you think there's going to be some sort of cushioning emergency?"

Carrie Anne had been turning out an appliqued pillow a week ever since they discovered her grandmother's Dementia, if indeed that was what it was, sewing scenes from the woman's life onto the pillows going off either her own memory of what happened or what she had heard from others, desperately hoping somehow it would help her hold on, but she didn't want to admit that was what she saw doing so she just shrugged.

Nim removed another pillow, sitting it on the coffee table. The felt sewn onto the pillow depicted a man handing some sort of box and gray stick to a little girl sitting in front of him.

Jenny picked up the pillow from the table. "This is when RJ gave you the old wood burning kit, wasn't it?"

Carrie Anne's face lit up. "Yeah. Yeah it is."

Jenny examined the pillow saying, "You heated up the stick and wound up burning the drapes. Joel stamped it and we had to pay the manger to replace them. "After a beat she continued, "I was so mad at your grandfather at the time. I told him 'who gives a six-year-old with pyrokethsis a wood-burning kit?"

Carrie Anne jumped and Nim leaned over and put her hand over Jenny's whispering urgently, "Jenny, you can't use the 'P' word right now, there are strangers in the house." Nim didn't know if Sam was okay with physics and she wasn't taking the chance.

Jenny was silent for a moment then there was a look of dawning on her face. "The bullet casing."

Carrie Anne and Nim exchanged looks, confused.

"She charmed the evidence officer into giving it to her." Jenny continued, "She cursed it so he would be like her brother…"

Suddenly they realized what she might be getting at. "Nana," Carrie Anne began, "Do you know what the cursed object is?"

In the kitchen Sam was reading out of one of Jenny's journals, blue leather with gold fluer de lis. Apparently, it had been an anaverery gift.

 _Joel called from Dayton looking for help. Apparently, that possession case wasn't a possession case, but physic with horrible parents. Poor thing, she's only two. According to Joel she's covered in bruises and she won't say a word to him, but doesn't want to leave him either. Name's Carrie Anne. We're going to see what can do to help, but honestly, I don't know what we can do…_

Sam was silent as a lot of things clicked together. Carrie Anne was physic. Carrie Anne was not biologically Joel's. That would explain why she had a different eye color from everyone else in the family-and probably another reason for the homeschooling. Well, Missouri did say she helped him on a personal matter. Sliding it over to himself, Sam said, "You, ah, might want to take this one."

Joel smirked, but then his face fell when he saw what was in this particularly journal. He shot Sam a look and he nodded his understanding. Then Sam stood up saying, "I'm just gonna step outside for a moment."

"Mine if I join you?" Bonnie asked, "I think I need a break, too."

"Sure." Sam agreed.

The two stepped out onto the porch, shutting the door and leaning against the wall. "Do you know what a Kelpie is?" Bonnie asked.

"It's a creature from Scottish lore that tricks people in getting on them then carrying them off into the sea to drown, right?" Sam responded.

"Apparently it's real." Bonnie responded, "Apparently Jenny and RJ ganked one in Boston after one got out of some rich guy's private zoo. Also apparently crazy rich people have private zoos with monsters in it."

"Great. Something else to worry about." Sam snarked. After a beat, "Bonnie can I ask you a person question?"

"Depends on how personal we talkin'." Bonnie countered.

"How—how did you meet these guys, I mean did you start dating with Clive first, or—" Sam's voice trailed off. He didn't know why he was asking this, he was just—curious.

"I started with hunting with Clive first." Bonnie answered, "He and I wound up—working the same case you could say, when I was a social worker. Neighbor called saying a guy he'd known for years started botching his wife and kids off the walls. Turns out the reason for the sudden change was that he was possessed by a demon. I nearly died, the youngest kid nearly died, dad _did_ die after the demon threw the poor guy onto a frickin' bedpost to try to stop Clive from doing the exorcism, so did the officer that was there with me, poor guy, mom lost an eye, lost her husband, and life as she knew it, everyone wound up in the hospital. Perhaps not accidentally, that was the week I snapped and did a couple of things that got me fired and possibly arrested."

Sam shot her a questioning look.

"Turns out that, while yes, one can be arrested if they file CPS it is _not_ appropriate to barge into their place of work to inform them of this, corner them and mention the possibility of Big Bertha making them their prison girlfriend nor if is it appropriate to physically assault a college whilst loud informing them what actually constitutes abuse and neglect even if it is the one half the office hates because she's the type that gives us all a bad name." Bonnie explained, "Clive showed me the ropes, then we became a thing, then he introduced me to his family. I mean, we don't see each other all that much, because, well, that's just the life, I guess. Hey, that's just life in general I guess.,"

Inside Carrie Anne came running into the room. "She remembers! Nana, she remembers what the object was. There should be a—a bullet casing somewhere."

Everyone looked over the table, and Clive, seeing it, grabbed it.

Joel went to the door and poked his head out. "We might have found it."

"That goes with what I just found here." Amity was saying when everyone got inside." Apparently a witch's brother was shot in a fight over a girl wound up in a persistent vegetative state, she cursed the casing and sent it to the murderer before trail." Her face fell as she continued to read, "It says here they never found a reversal. Even after they locked it away the guy died." She looked up, "I'm so sorry Sam."

Sam's heart sunk for a moment, when suddenly, he got an idea. "Amity, what's that cleansing ritual you use on the motel?"

Another hour and a whole lot of gathering latter, the group were gathered around a burn barrel in the back large, Sam putting the ingredients in it.

"Bone ash, cayenne pepper, sage brush, that should do." Sam summarized, throwing the last of the ingredients in.

"Now I need someone to light the fire at the same point I light this." Amity instructed. She held in her hand a bowl of sage that had to be burned separately.

Everyone pulled out a lighter. Sam tried first, but for some reason it wouldn't light. Then suddenly, both fires lit on their own.

From a window inside the house, Carrie Anne stared at the scene, focusing hard.

Clive threw the bullet casing into the barrel as Amity began to chant in language no one was really sure what it was. She kept chanting until the last of the embers died and they were left with nothing but a pile of ash.

There was a moment of silence, and then at last, Bonnie asked, "Um, how do we know it worked?"

At a hospital just outside of Lebanon, Georgia Fliutt was keeping vigil over her father while her mother was talking with the doctors. Suddenly his eyes slowly began to open.

"Dad!" Georgia exclaimed, leaping from her chair and running to his bed.

"Wha-what's going on?" Phil asked, "Where am I?"

"A hospital." Georgia explained, "You—you were in a coma. I—I gotta go get mom." She turned around and ran from the room, leaving her father still very confused.

Suddenly back in Peoria, Sam phone rang. Picking it up the first he heard was Georgia saying much too fast for Sam to understand, "Sam it worked, my dad just woke up…"

"Whoa, whoa, Georgia sowed down." Sam requested, "What happened?"

"Dad's awake." Georgia repeated, "Perfect health, like nothing ever happened." The girl was grinning from ear to ear. "The doctors can't figure it out."

"That's great." Sam grinned, thrilled this had actually worked.

"I don't know what you did, but thank you." Georgia told him.

Half a day later, Sam pulled up next to Georgia to find his boys had made friends with her dogs. All five of them ran to him the second he got out of the car, each boy taking a knee as the dogs licked him intensely, as if thanking him for helping their mistress.

Hannah, who had all three dogs on their leashes, put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. "Athos! Aramis! Porthos! "She shouted, "Down!"

The dogs obeyed, backing off of Sam. They boys however, were not as easy to control.

"You don't think that would work with those two, do you?" Hannah quipped, pointing to the twins.

Sam chuckled, hoping she wasn't serious. "What are you guys doing here?"

"They needed someone to walk the dogs while they were filling out the discharge paperwork filled out." Hannah explained, "Perhaps understand the girls didn't want to leave their side."

"Understandably." Sam repeated.

Just then the Fliutt's van turned onto the street. Sam couldn't help but smile.

Meanwhile, back an Illinois, Carrie Anne held up a hand mirror to herself, revealing two paste pearl studs, one in each year. "Oh, yeah, that's it." The teenager grinned before handing the mirror over to Bonnie.

The huntress, however, was less sure about the sliver studs now sticking out of her ears. She touched her lobe, which was still a little tender, then quickly pulled back.

As the Parker siblings watched from the doorway, Clive cleared his throat. "So, you ready for us to switch off?"

"Actually," Joel spoke up, "I thought we might say a few extra days. Give Carrie Anne's ears some time to heal."

They all knew that Carrie Anne ears would've been just fine, but Clive went with it. "Yeah, Bonnie could probably use a few days of recovery time, too."

"Ow." Bonnie let out as she touched her ears again.

"Especially if she keeps doing that." Clive added.

"And, I figure the maids can handle things for a couple more days." Amity added.

Meanwhile upstairs, Jenny Parker was sitting on her bed, holding the Jenny doll in her hand, smiling at the memory.

 _She looked around the house, at the sheer amount of wooden crakes they were using. Then he back started hurt, she was far enough along that was happening a lot._

 _That was when RJ walked in, saying, "Okay, so I think I found a job, and I also found…"_

" _There's nowhere to sit." Jenny cut him off, not really hearing him._

" _Huh?" RJ asked, confused._

" _No chair, no couch, just—milk crates as far as the eye can see." Jenney elaborated._

" _Well, good news on that front." RJ told her, "They just hired me on at the hardware store downtown, and while I was on the way home, it look like there's this—consignment shop that has like, a full almost completely matching set of furniture. And, ah," He pulled out a little blue glass doll from behind his back, "I brought a little something home. Call it a house warming gift."_

 _Jenny took it, staring at it almost in awe. "She's—she's beautiful. I—I love her."_

" _They're called Jenny dolls," RJ informed her before slipping his arms around her, "A Jenny doll for my Jenny." Then he kissed her on the forehead. "I love you, Jen." He put a hand on her stomach, "Love you, too, kid."_

" _You know, I've been thinking about names." Jenny told him, setting the doll carefully on one of the cursed milkcrates, "How do you fell about Amity for a girl and Joel if it's boy?"_

Over thirty years later an old and weathered Jenny Parker put the doll to her lips, kissing it, and then whispered, "I love you, too, RJ."


	69. At The Pumpkin Patch

Dean squirmed, peering out the window as the country side went by. "Are wes there yet?"

"We're almost there, just not quite yet." Sam told him trying to keep his patience. He had been asking if they were there yet every ten minutes.

It all started when Elsbeth's bunch got a little pumpkin to set on the counter. That sparked the boy's interest in gourds as decorations. Then they came over to Reason's one day and she and Maudie had a "purple pumpkin"—I. E., a plastic jack-o-lantern they had found at the thrift store—it seemed that everyone had a pumpkin.

Just then a large patch came into view that littered with dozens and dozens of orange pumpkins. Seeing a small parking lot, Sam pulled in.

The couple pratically had to dig in them heals to keep the toddlers from carrying them away as they ran towards the pumpkins.

"Whoa, whoa, Dean, slow down." Sam urged.

"They'll be plenty of time to pick one out." Hannah added in, finally getting a handle on Cas.

After that they walked, each of them holding a parent's hand, Dean holding Sam's, Cas holding Hannah's, as they searched through the patch.

"This one's so big!" Dean declared, pointing to one that was bigger than him. In fact, in it was about the size of Sam, except wider.

"Yeah." Sam responded in surprise, feeling up the pumpkin.

"Can we get it?" Dean asked, wide-eyed and excited.

"You know what, how 'bout we find one that we can actually get into the car, okay?" Sam responded.,

"Okay." Dean agreed reluctantly.

They walked around the patch for a while, carefully examining pumpkins, when Dean asked, "Where are the purple ones?"

"What purple ones?" Hannah asked, not making the connection.

"Purple pumpkins. Dean elaborated, "Like Maudie has."

Cas's eyes lit up. That would be pretty! "Can we get one without the scary face, though?"

"Ah, there's no such thing as purple pumpkins, bud." Sam told him, genuinely hating to break it to him, "Maudie's was just soft stuff shaped like a pumpkin." 'Soft stuff' had become the household term for anything made out of foam or stuffed with filling.

"Oh." Dean responded.

"Does that mean that pumpkins don't have scary faces on them?" Cas spoke up hopefully.

Hannah smiled, "No, people put the scary faces on them themselves."

"Why?" Cas asked.

"Um…." Hannah began, honestly not having a clue.

"It's just for fun, guys." Sam told them, "Something to make house look cool on Halloween."

"Wait, isn't there …" Hannah began.

Sam shot her the _Let's wait until they're older look._

Backtracking Hannah said, "Yes, that's all it is."

Somewhat away from the pumpkin patch, sat a large blow-up lack o lantern with windows for the eyes mouth, which kids were playing in, walking around, jumping and playing with small balloons. When they boys saw this Dean forgot all about finding a pumpkin, and ran up to one of the eyes and went in. "Can we go in and play Daddy?" The youngster pleaded, "Please."

"I don't know bud." Sam replied rather unsure before turning to a teenager girl in a green checkered shirt and overalls who was attending to the blow-up pumpkin. "Is there a height or age limit on this thing?"

"No, they're good to go in." The girl smiled at him.

Sam and Hannah looked at each other, then looked at Dean's big green eyes. They were both nervous, but there were a bunch of kids in there, so it had to be safe, on the other hand there was a bunch of kids in there so what if the boys got trampled…

"They probably want to wait until this round is over, because, this bunch only has, like, two minutes." The attendant advised.

"Yeah, we'll do that." Sam agreed.

Two minutes, Dean was climbing through the mouth of the pumpkin while Cas stood in between his parents, holding their hands.

"You sure you don't want to go in there, bud?" Sam asked, afraid the toddler would regret it later.

Hannah however, just squeeze his hand tighter. She still wasn't sure about this thing and was glad she didn't have to worry about Cas.

Dean ran into mouth along with a few other little kids. He grabbed a balloon and threw it in the air, smiling. Then he turned around and it hit him that Cas wasn't with him and suddenly he felt alone.

Even with his parents Cas felt along as he watched Dean. His hand began to slowly slip out of his Dad's.

Dean walked around the pumpkin, looking everywhere. This wasn't any fun without his brother.

Cas let go and tried to run into the pumpkin, put his Mom was still holding tight to his hand. "Mommy, let go! I wanna go in!"

"Are you sure?" Hannah questioned.

Cas continued to struggle to get free, tears starting to well up.

"Honey, I think he's sure.," Sam said, "You might want to let him go before we get into tantrum territory."

Hannah reluctantly let go saying, "Go. Be free."

Cas didn't have to be told twice, running towards the pumpkin shouting, "Dean, wait for me!" Then disappearing int the flap.

Dean turned his head again and saw Cas, Coat flying behind him, running towards him. "Cas!" He shouted, running towards him. The pair meant in the middle, hugging before beginning to play.

The pair walked thought the pumpkin dodging bigger kids and gathering up the balloons in Coat, then took either side and tossed it in the air, making it rain balloons. The others seemed to like that too, trying to grab a balloon. They, taking each other hands they went to gather more balloons.

Five minutes later the attentats let all the kids out, and Cas and Dean reluctantly made their way to their parents. "I take it you enjoyed yourselves." Sam guessed.

The boys nodded. "Can we go again?" Dean asked hopefully, as Sam leaned down to put the harness back on.

"Maybe after we find a pumpkin." Sam negotiated, "Come on, guys."

At last they found the perfect pumpkin. A medium-sized, deep orange pumpkin, with no defeats and a healthy brown stem. Both boys squealed and hugged it. "I think we should name it Fred." Dean declared.

"Little One, if we name everything Fred, it's going to get to confusing." Hannah told them, "Can we come up with another name?"

The twins thought a moment, trying to think of a new name. "What about Ana?" Cas spoke up suddenly.

Sam let out a surprised, amused laughed,

"But that's a girl's name!" Dean protested.,

"Well, maybe it's a girl pumpkin." Cas suggested.

Dean looked the pumpkin up and down. "How can you tell?"

"Ah, I don't think you can, buddy." Sam said, "You just, have to take a chance."

"Can we name it Ana, Dean?!" Cas pleaded, "Please, please, _please_?"

"Okay." Dean agreed finally.

That was when they heard the crying. Everyone turned around to say see a little girl the same as the boys, wailing in the middle of the patch.

The family carefully approached her, Hannah holding the kids back so as not to crowd her, and Sam crouched down in from. "Hey," He said gently, "Hey, what's wrong, sweetheart?"

The little girl looked up at him and sniffled. "My Mommy and Daddy and brothers are lost."

"Then we better go find them." Sam told her softly, holding out his hand, "Come on."

The little girl stared at the hand, unsure if she should take.

"It's alright, ah, why don't we start with names." Sam suggested, "I'm Sam. And back there's Hannah and Dean and Cas."

The little girl hickuped. "I'm Marie."

"Marie," Sam repeated, "That's a nice name. Tell you, Marie, why don't we go try to find your parents while Hannah and the boys go find someone who can help us find them?"

Marie took Sam's hand and the pair went one way while Hannah's and the boys went the other.

With his hand wrapped around her tiny one, Sam and Marie went through the pumpkin patch, asking if anyone had saw someone looking for a child.

"What do your parents look like, sweetie?" Sam asked her.

"Mommy has short dark hair and big tummy because she's growing a baby right now, and that's where babies live when they grow." Marie told him.

As if on cue, a very pregnant dark-haired woman, a man, and two boys came into view, the man franticly asking, "I'm sorry, have you seen a little girl about, three, blonde hair…"

"Excuse me!" Sam called out, "I think I have what you're looking for." He pointed to the little girl at his side.

"Mary!" The father exclaimed as he and the mother and ran up to her, the woman scooping her up in awkward hug.

"I'm so sorry." The mother began, "Mommy's so, so, so sorry, and she is never letting you out of her sight again."

"Mommy, you're squishing me!" The little girl protested.

"Thank you." The Dad breathed, "Thank you so much, if anything would've happened to her—"

"No, problem." Sam assured him, "I got two about her age. Been there, done that."

The man nodded in understanding as the woman fawned over the Marie. "It's alright, baby, let's go." She looked up at Sam one more and said, "Thank you."

After finding Hannah and the boys again the Winchesters took their pumpkins home. All was going well until they asked the boys if they wanted to mark where they were going to crave. (Obviously the adults were going to do the cutting.)

"What's craving?" Dean asked.

"We're going to cut it open, take all the yucky stuff out and cut a face open." Sam explained.

Two little sets of eyes, one set green, one set blue widened in alarmed. "But that'll hurt it!" Dean exclaimed.  
"No, no, no, no, no!" Cas protested.

"Pumpkins don't feel pain, little ones." Hannah tried to assure them.

"Please, don't hurt, Ana!" Cas pleaded, "She didn't do anything!"

Realizing they probably weren't going to be able to explain the concept of an animate object to them, Sam surrendered. "Alright. I have an idea."

Thirty minutes later, the boys put down their markers, their hands covered in ink. And parts of their faces.

"Did you draw on the pumpkin, or draw yourselves?" Sam laughed, "Can we see her?"

The boys turned Ana around. It had one eye that was bright said of red, the other eye was plum, both of them were in a wonky position. Multicolor strains of what they were assuming were supposed to be hair hung from around her stem and she had the goofiest light blue grin on her face. Maybe the evil spirits would laugh themselves to death.

"It's beautiful." Hannah told them sincerely, because it certainly wasn't the worst job they had ever done, leaning in to pick it up.

They all followed the Winchester matriarch outside, where she sat the pumpkin by the side of the bunker door, carefully positioning it.

"Can we show Maudie, Daddy?" Dean asked hopefully.

"Sure." Sam assured him.

"Can we show Dory and Nessa and Scarlet too?" Cas added.

Sam froze, as unlike with Reason and Maudie, none of the Rawls were aware of the…unconventional living arrangement and he was a little afraid it would lead to questions.

"Sure, little one." Hannah said before shooting Sam a _we'll figure something out_ look.

Then both toddlers, sit down.

"Ah, what are you doing, guys?" Sam asked.

"Staying with Ana." Dean said matter-of-factly.

Realizing that no amount of convincing would get the boys to leave, the adults sat down, and the family spent the next two hours visiting with Ana the pumpkin, who guarded the house well into November, before finally being buried off to the side of the bunker in small dignified ceremony.


	70. Secrets

Sam opened the cabinet where still kept the coffee can, well, now coffee cans, three specifically, and stared at them, taking a deep breath. He shouldn't do this. Or at the very, least he should talk to Hannah first. It wasn't that they wouldn't afford it, they had saved enough he could send the money and them still had ample cushioning, there was another stash of money under their mattress, but she was his _wife_ , they had kids, they were a family he shouldn't be taking large amount of funds out without at least giving her a heads up. But…. eight years, he never told anyone about what he did. Not even Dean. Of course, Dean would have probably got worked up over the element of risk he was taking and demand he stopped. Hannah would understand. But…what would he tell her? How would he explain it?

Closing his eyes, he grabbed a can, pulled out a wad of hundreds, shoved the can back and the cabinet with a slam of the door, and ran for it.

Later that day, Hannah walked into kitchen to the cabinets where the cans were kept. Someone needed to make a grocery run before they were down to crackers and jam. Opening the door, she saw the led was half off the top can. "Huh," She uttered, before taking out the can and began to look inside. There was money gone.

Laying it out and grabbing the cans, she began to count, doing the math in her head. There was three thousand and five hundred dollars gone.

Sam came home as usual, greeted by two ecstatic toddlers. "Hey, guys." He greeted them, back, picking them both up, "You have a good afternoon?"

He got the usual nods in unison. Even when they didn't have a good day, he usually got those nods. "I got a helmet for my costume." Dean told him, pulling at the visor of his knights' helmet.

"I see, oh, that's so cool." Sam commented, playing with it before setting the boys there and heading towards the kitchen.

When he got there, Hannah was cutting vegetables. Giving her a kiss on the cheek, he offered, "You want help?"

"Sure, would mind putting the green beans on?" Hannah requested.

"Sure." Sam agreed, grabbing the can.

As Hannah contused to cut, she watched Sam from the coroner of her eye. Should she ask about the money? Or should she wait for him to tell her? She was sure he had a good reason for taking it, but why hadn't she said anything to her? It wasn't as if they informed each other of everything but…that seemed like a lot of money. What if he was in some kind of trouble?

"I waited the whole night for him to say something, but he didn't." Hannah whispered in a corner booth to Reason and Serena Joy, "He still hasn't."

The matter of the missing money was still troubling her, apparently so much that when she went to pick up Maudie, Reason could see and asked her what was wrong and suddenly next thing any of them knew the diner became a confessional.

"And you're sure, you didn't just miscount?" Reason asked, going to the most logical explanation first.

"Yes." Hannah insisted, "I knew exactly what was in those cans."

"Alright, let's look at this rationally." Serena Joy urged, "Sam's what, thirty-one? Maybe he's going through an early midlife ciris and he bought a motorcycle or something else stupid and expensive and he was too embarrassed to tell you?"

Hannah was silent for a moment, contemplating this before asking, "What in the world is a midlife crisis?"

That was when Karine came over. "Hey, you can gab later, some of us have to work."

"Karine, I just clocked out, Lucy is here, everything is so clean you could get off it, and it's not exactly grand central station in here." Serena Joy told her, finishing with a wise gesture to the diner, which, yes, was empty, save for its employees.

"Actually, she's right, I'm on the clock, I should at least be working," Reason began, starting to slight out, "Sorry, Hannah."

"I can tell you what he's up to right now." Karine declared, "He's got himself something on the side and he's spending that money on her."

"Something on the side?" Hannah repeated, not understanding.

"Hannah, don't listen to her." Serena Joy ordered urgently, "She doesn't know anything about you, anything about Sam, anything about the situation."

Karine didn't acknowledge Serena Joy spoke, going on, "You've been married, what, five months? Enough time for him to get bored and go sniffing around for someone younger, prettier, someone who will do things in bed you won't." Karine looked Hannah up and down, "My money's on does things in bed you won't." Satisfied that the pot was sufficiently stirred, Karine walked off with a wicked smile.

Hannah fell back in the booth, feeling like she had just been slapped, too stunned to even think for a moment. Reason lept to the other side to help her up. "Hannah, listen to me." The ex-witch urged, "You _cannot_ listen to Karine, she always thinks the worst of everyone and loves making people miserable."

"We're talking about a woman who got fired from her old job for bullying the people under her, had at least one marriage fail, kids who beg not to see her, thinks she's too good for this job even though it's the only one she could get and takes it out on anyone within five feet of her." Serena Joy informed her, "I wouldn't take her life advice on anything. There are a lot of other reasons Sam could've taken that money out. Gambling problem, drinking problem, drug problem…."

"Yeah, I don't think that's helping." Reason told her, "The point is, don't do anything rash. Why don't you just—just ask Sam about it. _Without_ accusing him of adultery. Or alcoholism. Or any of the other ery's or isms that are running through your head right now."

"Right." Hannah nodded, "That's what I'll do. Thank you."

That night, after this kid had went to be and Sam thought Hannah was off in what use to be her room, she still did some work on her murder board, Sam pulled out his laptop. He doubted the money had arrived yet, but he just wanted to see if there was anything on her _Facebook_ page.

"Sam, what are you looking at?"

Startled, Sam slapped the lap top down, peering up at Hannah a few feet away from. "Ah, nothing." _What? What are you talking about? You were looking at something. Just tell her!_

Hannah tilted her head. Yes, he was looking at something. His lap top was out. But why would he lie? _Say something. Come on, it's not that hard just—ask him._ But for some reason her mouth suddenly felt like it was glued shut.

That was when there was a call down the hall. "Mommy, I'm thirsty. Can I'se have a drink of water?"

"I'd better go get that." Hannah said, turning around. _He probably said nothing because he didn't see it as important. Or it was for work. Or he was looking something up for a hunter. Or he found a case himself. Don't go there. This is not enough evidence to prove anything._

Meanwhile, Sam rubbed his face. Why was it so hard? He told her everything else. She knew the worst things about him? Why did he clam up on this?

Sam didn't realize it, but his guilt did nothing to fight off the nagging intrusive thoughts that had entered his bride's mind, especially as it became more obvious. He barely spoke a word as he threw dough codded bananas slices into hot oil the next morning.

"What's the special occasion?" Hannah asked, coming up behind him, causing him to jump.

"Not really." Sam answered, however, his voice was tense, "But, ah, there's something I need to talk to you about later."

Hannah froze a moment. "About what?"

"Nothing major just…" His voice trailed off as he saw the children waiting on the fritters, "It's probably not something we should talk about with little ears around. Could raise some questions."

Hannah pulled back. "Alright."

As they all sat down to breakfast, Sam doled out portions of banana fritters covered in powdered sugars to the boys. "More, please?" Dean asked.

"Finish what you got on your plate, then see if you're still hungry." Sam told him. Sitting down.

Dean began to eat, when Cas spoke up, noticing something. "Daddy, why aren't you eating?"

It shook Sam from his stupor. "Oh, yeah, Daddy—Daddy just forgot." He put some on his plate and then bit one in half, it turning to ash in his mouth. Hannah for her part, too two fritters and moved it around her plate.

Sam spent his shift at work on auto pilot, going through the motions, but was lost in his head.

As he was taking the dogs out of the kennel, he was kicking himself for making a big deal out of this. Really, it was so melodramatic. He could have just taken her into the other room, told her, and the boys wouldn't have heard. The worst that would happen would be she'd get a little mad. It's not like she didn't already know about what happened with her father.

Adshe walked the dogs his mind started to drift to whether or not she actually even _got the_ money yet. He did something he had never done before; pulled out his phone at work. Using one hand he pulled up the _Facebook_ page of a girl with long wavy dark brown hair, the photo of her page of her sitting on a black painted iron-framed bed with a pink and white quilt, holding a tiny orange tabbied cat, surrounded by four other cats, a white one with heterochronic eyes, one blue one brown and a clef lip, another white one missing a back leg, and thick-furred orange cat with one eye, and a gray an pink spynx in a little body suit. _Claudia Wandell,_ the page read.

After work, he went out to one of the houses he had started mowing lawns for. By then he had circled back to guilt, nearly calling home at least five times. He pulled the mower out of the Impala when he realized: He couldn't go on like this. He picked up the phone and began to dial when his phone went off. After looking at the caller ID, he picked it up. "Reason?"

"I think you need to go home and talk to Hannah." Reason told him.

Standing next to a bookshelf, waiting to be sacrificed to a dragon, or rescued by a knight, both were just as likely by this point, considering how long it was taking ,Hannah was left with nothing to do but think, Karine's words ringing in her mind. _Younger, prettier, does things in bed you won't, whatever that means._ Hannah added something to that list. _Human._ What if it hit him that they had completely different lifespans, different ways of understanding, that she couldn't give him any children, any more at least. Then she shook her head, shaking the thoughts away. _No. This is Sam we're talking about. He doesn't care about that. And he—he wouldn't do the things you're thinking._

Just then thankfully, her thoughts were cut off my Cas leaping out, his wings out-spread, his hands claws, growling.

"Ah!" Hannah mocked-screamed, "Someone help me, please!"

Suddenly, Dean in his plastic knight's helmet wielding a toilet paper roll sword appeared, mock wacking at Cas. Cas snarled in got mock waked again then mocked stabbed in the heart. Grabbing his chest, Cas fell over, closing his eyes and sticking his toughen, forcing Hannah to suppress a laugh, though Dean caught her smirking.

"Oh, I'm just—so relieved the dragon is slain." Hannah covered quickly, "Thank you, brave knight. Would mind untying me now?"

Dean cut her free and she pulled back from the shelves.

She was able to keep rational until the kids went down for their nap. After making sure they were okay she pulled herself away long enough to crush a few cans when she looked up and saw Sam's lap top just lying on a table.

 _He probably didn't even turn it off._ A wicked voice said at the back of her mind. _You could just—open it up and see what's in there. Then you can forget all about it._

Hannah's hand reached out towards the lap top, but quickly pulled back. _What am I doing?_ She scolded herself, _this relationship is built on trust, I wouldn't like if Sam used my lap top without so much as giving me a heads up._ Admittedly it wasn't originally hers. It had been Castiel's before the incident and she was probably sure it had been a gift from the brothers Winchester, she just kept using it, but the point still stood. Suddenly she got an idea and turned around to go to her old room.

After some research, she discovered that the type of thoughts she was having was called an intrusive thought and there were ways to deal with it. First, she tried thought stopping. She laid down on the bed, and lets the thoughts roll over her.

 _He was talking with her. He's found somebody else and is talking to her online. They talking about all the dirty, nasty things they could do if he could just get away from you and the kids…_

She couldn't wait the full five minutes. "Stop!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, risking waking up the children. And for a moment it was gone.

However, as she walked down the hall, that evil voice ran through her head. _Someone human…_

"Stop." She said firmly and that seemed to work, so she went to check on the boys.

The boys were both still sleeping peacefully, Dean, somehow having worked his way onto his stomach, at least three different stuffed animals in his hands. Cas on his side, clutching coat his thumb hanging from his mouth.

Hannah just stood there watching them for a moment, before the thought rose up again from the back of her mind. _Really, just a peak. If she was wrong, he'd never have to know…_

Hannah sighed. "This isn't working." She said aloud, deciding to try one of the other methods.

That method was leaving the thought alone, don't fight it, but instead finding something meaningful to do and let the thought play in the background until it lost its strength. First, she finished crushing the soda cans to take to trade in, got some cosmetics ready to take in or ship, then worked on her murder board until the boys woke up, then played with them.

Unfortunately, a lot of their pretend games lately had her in the roll of damsel in distress.

As she paced the length of the "dudgeon" she was trapped in—really the back area of the stacks—her mind was left to wonder, and it wondered there again. She tried to be rational about it, she had no proof, very little cause to even suspect, and Sam had already agreed to tell her what was going on, so it's not as if he was keeping it from her, but the less rational thought in her mind filled her with an awful dread. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, startling her. Making her escape, Hannah hurried up to the door, opening it to revel Reason, holding Maudie. "Boys, Maudie's here."

Reason put her daughter down and she came running down the stairs and the boys ran to greet to her, everything that came before forgotten.

"Hey, Hannah, are you alright?" Reason asked, as she noticed Hannah looked a little tired. Which would not be concerning considering she had two very activate toddlers except she knew her friend came from a species that didn't even need to _sleep_ let alone got tired.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just…been a long day." Hannah lied, "I've been kidnapped twice and nearly fed to a dragon."

"Tell me about it," Reason replied, "I can't wait until this 'hero' phase is over. But, uh, that's not it, is it?" After a beat, she thought she knew what it was, "What did Sam need to the money for?"

Hannah nearly broke down at that point. "I still don't know."

And so, they sat down, and Hannah gave the rundown of her day. "Am I crazy?" She asked when she finished.

Reason came over a for and hugged her. "No, you're just— caught in a loop." Reason thought for a minute. What would Serena Joy do? These things were usually her territory. Then it hit her. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do…."

Fifteen minutes, later, Sam was at the house, Hannah sitting in front of his lap top. "I haven't looked." She told him.  
"I know." Sam told her, sitting down, "Hannah, I'm sorry I freaked you out with the cash and the way I was asking, but there's a reasonable explanation. It's just—it's something I never told anyone. Not even Dean." As he spoke, he pulled up the Claudia's _Facebook_ page. "She's Steve Wandell daughter."

It took a minute before Hannah recognized the name. "That hunter that demon killed while…"

"While possessing me." Sam recapped, "A few months after I—I took the risk of trying to look her up, check on her. I've been doing it a least once a year, give or take, since. It wasn't a pretty picture there for a while. She went into a depression after—after he died, dropped out of school, but people were looking out her, got started at a therapist. Now lives in an apartment with a couple of other girls, finally got on social media a few years ago, which makes keeping track of her a little easier never met a handicaped cat she didn't love, even got engaged. Which, is what I took the cash out for."

Hannah scrolled down on the feed until she found a picture of Claudia with a young man with short light brown hair wrapped around in front of a large, older brink building. Below the picture it read: _To the person who sent the two grands for the wedding venue,_

 _I don't know who you are, I don't know why you did this, but thank you. Words can't express how grateful both me and Malcom are for your extremely generous gift. You made a dream come true for this. If you see this, for the record, you have a standing invitation._

Seeing that she had finished reading, Sam explained, "Apparently they had a venu they both liked, but they couldn't afford it. Neither of them makes that much, she just got promoted to assistant manager at _Dollar General,_ and he's a beat cop. She was asking if anyone knew of any similar alternatives that were cheaper. Something just—clicked." He swallowed again.

"Sam," Hannah began in a hoarse voice, "This is a beautiful thing you've done." And she had been thinking such ugly things. "Forgive me."

"Forgive _you?_ " Sam balked, "Hannah, if it's anyone who needs to be asking for forgiveness it's me. I mean, I messed with our finances without telling you, I kept secrets from you…"

"It was something personal, you didn't have to." Hannah cut him off, "And I—I—Sam, Reason just gave you the bare basics of what happened on the phone."

And so, Hannah explained everything to him. Karine, the intrusive thoughts, all of it. "I just—I can't believe I thought that of you. Especially when the truth is so far from it—"

"Hey," Sam cut her off this time, cupping her cheek, "Everybody thinks things. And everyone gets thoughts under their skin that won't go away. Case in point, I've been driving myself crazy with guilt all day over not telling you about this. Seriously, Reason probably saved at least one mulberry bush, I was so distracted."

Hannah laughed. "Don't we make the pair."

"Yeah, we do." Sam replied, "So, though you don't need it, I'll forgive you, if you forgive me."

"You're forgiven." Hannah told Sam, allowing him to kiss her.

"So, where did Reason drop the kid's off at?" Sam asked, getting into the driver's side of the car.

"Serena Joy, she's still on the earlier shift, so she just got off." Hannah explained, "They're disturbingly swayed by the promise of sweets."

Sam chuckled, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure most three-year-old are easily swayed by the promise of sweets."

"Sam, you don't have to do this. "Hannah told him, "You just got off of work—"

"Honey, I _want_ to do this." Sam told her, giving her hand a squeeze before pulling out.

It admittedly was a nice drive. Aside from the trees all changing into their beautiful fall hues, they talked and laughed, and had a good time. It felt good now that once again there was no tension between them.

That was when Sam got an idea. "You know," He began slyly, "You haven't called Serena yet. No one would know, if we just –made a little wrong turn, took the long way around."

"Sam, we can't." Hannah began to protest, "We'd be taking advantage— "Before she could even get the words out, she surnames to temptation, "Five minutes."

They turned off to a slightly bumpy road, looking at all shades of orange, red and yellow on the trees. "You know, it really is beautiful out here this time of year."

"It's shame it has to go away." Hannah added, "Even though, I guess that's kind of the beauty of it."

"How so?" Sam asked.

"It never truly dies." Hannah stated softly, "The flowers, the leaves the grass—they all grow back and it starts all over again."

Sam smile at the thought.

Shortly after that, they arrived at Serena Joy's, the young baker meeting them at the door. "Hey guys," She began, "Ah, everything okay, here?"

"Yes." Hannah assured her, "Everything's fine now."

While they were talking, Sam had noticed Dean covered in flour and dough. "Ah, Serena, what do we have here?"

"Ah, what we have here is baking got a little out of hand." Serena Joy told Sam as he went over to examine the pasty toddlers, "Uh, sorry about that."

"It's alright, it's only a few hours before bath time anyway." Sam said, liking his thumb and whipping some of the flour off Dean's cheek.

Between the intense play of the day and their adventures and baking, when it came time for bedtime, the toddlers were unusually ready to get down, and soon all three of them were snoozing soundly, Dean with the covers over his head, Cas with him thumb limp in his mouth, and Maudie surrounded by the contents of the toys in her diaper bag.

"They're so sweet when they're asleep." Hannah declared, watching the seen along with Sam.

"Hmm mmm." Sam uttered in agreement, wrapping an arm around her waist, "Hey, you sure—you sure you're okay now?"

"I'm more than okay." Hannah assured her, before turning her head, to look at him, "What about you? How are you feeling?"

"Great, actually." Sam told her, "It feels really good to tell you. To finally to anyone about it, actually. "As he looked at her, he got this intense feeling welling up from within him. "You know," He began, starting to kick her neck, "It'd take an atom bomb to wake those kids so I was just thinking maybe we could slip down the hall and…"

Hannah smiled back at him. "I like the way you think, Sam Winchester. "And, intertwined, they headed down the hall.


	71. Saving Grace

**AN: I have no excuse. But I am sorry.**

 **Warning: Tons of adult fear ahead.**

It started when Hannah went to wake up the boys that morning. Dean got up immediately, put Cas laid in the bed, the covers over his head. "Okay, sleepy head," Hannah began before she went to lower the covers and her hand bush his skin and discovered it was hot. Not just warm from being in the bed, _hot._ Like sick hot.

"Mommy, I don't feel good." Cas told her before starting to cough.

"Sam!" Hannah screamed, scooping Cas up. She was terrified that she already knew what this was. She just really hopped she was wrong.

Hearing her cries and realizing something was wrong, Sam dropped what he was doing, running down the hallway and m, meeting her halfway down. "He's burning up. "She told just as Cas coughed again before getting into a fit of coughs.

Sam's heart sunk. He had only heard Cas cough like this once before. Just before the incident.

"How did this happen?" Sam asked, pacing the floor outside of the bathroom, where they had put Cas in an ice bath trying to cool him down. The toddler didn't even protest or fight them or anything, which was even more worrisome. Dean seemed to realize that there was something really wrong with her brother, as he just watched in silence, and now sitting vigil in front of the tub. "I thought when the de-aged it fixed his grace fading."

"It must've only slowed it." Hannah told him, pacing the other way, "Because it wasn't _his_ grace, I mean, it'd be like you trying to live with someone else's soul inside you." After a beat she realized, "Okay, it's not a perfect analogy you get the point." Suddenly she felt sick to her stomach. Like physically could feel the not bile rising up in her front and she tried to fight it down, but suddenly is was spewing out of her mouth.

Sam reached out to steady her. "Hannah, breathe. Breathe."

Hannah took a deep breath. She thought she knew what they had to do. "Sam," She began slowly, "I need you to help me remove my grace and keep it contained."

"What?" Sam balked.

"It's the only way I can think to save him." Hannah explained urgently, "Give him mine it should…it should keep him alive."

"Yeah, but that buys us, what another year and we're right back here. "Sam pointed out, then he got an idea, "Does it have to be all of it?"

"What?" Hannah responded not getting what he was getting it.

"I mean not giving him all your grace, but leave enough for you to recharge, so that way—" Sam began, his voice trailing off, "If we get to the point this happens again—"

"There's still more." Hannah finished for him, "Yes, yes, that could actually work."

Cas' fever was down and they didn't want to risk him accidentally drowning, so they took his out of the ice bath, wrapping him in a towel and sitting him in a chair in the stacks facing the opposite direction of his mother as she sat down and Sam prepared the syringe.

"At some point you will need to tell me to stop." Sam told Hannah, carefully cutting a small nick in the angel's neck and inserting the needle of the syringe.

As the grace was slowly drained from her, Hannah's eyes darted over to Castiel, still wrapped in his towel, his eyes widening.

"It's alright, little one." Hannah tried to assure him, "Mommy's not hurt. We're—we're going to be fine." As the syringe filled, her the dread inside her intensified until it began all-consuming and she felt that awful queasiness in her stomach again. "Sam, I think I'm gonna…gonna…"

Sam pulled the syringe out in time for Hannah to double over, pouring clear vile onto the floor.

"And I think that's a sign that we got enough." Sam declared.

After tenting Cas in one of Sam's t-shirts, they laid the little angel down his bed, both parents crouching in front of him. "How you doing, buddy?" Sam asked, though he had a feeling he knew the answer.

"Still don't feel good." Cas informed them.

"Well, Daddy's going to stick this into you." Sam explained, holding the syringe, "And it might hurt a bit, but will make you feel better, okay?"

Cas barely moved, but nodded.

"Hannah, hold him down." Sam instructed.

Hannah got a gentle grip on him, but Cas offered no resistance as Sam carefully injected him, pushing down on a plunger. "How long until we know it worked?" He asked when he finished.

"I'm not sure." Hannah admitted, "When Crowley gave him Adiana's grace he got his strength back, stopped coughing and falling asleep."

Cas raised his head up. "Who's Crowley and Adiana?"

"No one, bud." Sam asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I'se don't feel lucky anymore." Cas told them, sitting up only to get dizzy, "Oh—"

Sam reached out and steadied him. "It's okay. You're okay."

And so, the adults took shifts looking through the bunker for anything they could use to heal Cas, while the other adult watched the child's condition, while keeping an eye on Dean who was sitting Indian style by his brother's bed, trying to cheer him up. During one of his shifts watching the boys, Sam cut through the stacks to the kitchen, saying, "Well, good news, he's got a little apatite back. Finally asked for something to eat."

Hannah shut the book at the sound of her husband entering. "Sam, I think I know what we need to do."

"Okay, what?" Sam asked.

Hannah turned around. "We need to find his grace, his actual grace. Even though it's been removed, it won't fade. "

"Yeah, but I thought—" Sam began, then realized what Hannah was getting at, "Hannah, no. How would we even get access to him? Isn't he like, locked up in Heaven's jail in straight jacket and Hannibal Lector mask?"

"Just the straight jacket." Hannah told him, "And I've been able to get in to speak with Metatron before. The jail's not as well guarded as it probably should be, plus I'm friends with a lot of the angels that are guarding the cells. A lot of old centuries became guards when we re-organized Heaven. Similar requites."

"And how are you going to explain what's going on to the others?" Sam asked.

"Well, Castiel's grace problem wasn't a secret, you were there when we all found out." Hannah argued, "They'll assume I'm interrogating him over that, and if worse comes to worse…it might be time to let them on part of what we've been doing. I can make them see the logic in the decision we made back then, if it came to it." She had come to the decision that, had she gone with her original instinct and took Cas back to Heaven and continue the search for a reversal, it would had ended in disaster.

"And if you can't?" Sam challenged, not disagreeing with this course of action, just, hopping they could still come up with something better.

"It's a chance I think we'll have to take." Hannah told him, resolved.

"But I need to stay with Cas!" Dean protested, as Sam unstrapped the car seat straps.

For obvious reasons, they couldn't take Dean with him, so they were quickly made arrangements with Reason to keep him while they were dealing with this. Dean, however, did not want to leave his brother when needed him.

"It'll just be a few days okay?" Sam assured him, picking up the kicking toddler.

"But Cas needed me!" Dean insisted, trying to reach out to the other car seat Cas was sitting in. The whole scene was starting to upset him and he started to cry.

Sam took a deep breath, trying to calm down before he snapped and did something he shouldn't. "Dean," He began slowly, "We need to take Cas to some place special to help him get better, but they need to focus, and they can't if you're there too. So, so the best thing you can do is stay here and do what Miss Reason tells you, okay?"

Dean sniffled. "But Cas'll be alone."

"No, he won't." Sam assured him, "He'll be with me and Mommy –and Coat." He pointed to where Cas had the garment in his hand. They had nearly left without it before Cas started crying out for it. That had to be a good side, right?

"Can I'se say goodbye again?" Dean asked.

"Sure." Sam said, holding Dean out where he could hug Cas.

Dean wrapped his arms around his twin. "I'se love you." Then he let Sam pull him back out, and hand him to Reason, who had stepped outside and came up to Sam while this was going on.

"Good luck." Reason told them as Sam got back in the car, "I'll keep a good thought." She wanted to offered more. She wanted to pray because after everything she still believed prayer worked. However, considering where her friends were going it also seemed a bit reductant.

Sam nodded his thanks, pulling away, leaving them watching them fade in the distance.

They didn't stop driving, switching out when Sam needed to sleep. At noon the next day, they pulled up just beside the playground, gaining the attention of the angels currently on guard duty, a man in with graying brown hair, a scar on his temple, dressed in a gray suit.

Hannah gently took Cas from her lap, handing him to his father. She began to slip out of the car when Sam grabbed her wrist. "Wait, the rings."

Looking down, Hannah removed them. She had been so focused on Cas that fear of exposure temporally alluded her. She had all but forgot the rings were there. She opened the door to get out when a tiny hand grabbed her. "Mommy, please don't go." Cas whimpered, looking up at her with wide eyes.

"Little one, Mommy has to go to get the medicine for you." Hannah told him softly, "Daddy will be with you the whole time."

Cas shook his head. "I'se scared." He felt a lot better, but sometimes he still felt sick and he didn't like it, and his Mommy and Daddy were acting weird and they had left Dean with Miss Reason and it was scary.

Her heart breaking, Hannah pulled him into a hug.

By that time, the angel with the scar, taking noticed of the scene, had got up, walking to the car. "Excuse me?" He asked, causing Hannah to jump and turn around.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you sister." The angel with the scar apologized. He paused a minute then said, "It's Hannah, isn't it?"

Hannah nodded, uneasy that an angel she hadn't met before somehow recognized her.

It was then the angel with the scar noticed the tiny angel now clinging to Hannah's side. "Is that Castiel?" He exclaimed, his eyes wide with utter shock, "Since when was he possessing a child? And a small one at that? "Under his breathe, he murmured, "We really need to set a minimum age requirement for vessels we can take." Then he noticed the black wings sticking out Cas' back. "Why are his—"

"It's a long story." Was all Hannah answered in replied, then covering Cas' ears whispered, "I need to go inside, I need to—go to the cells. Please, it's urgent, it could be a matter of life and death."

"Oh." The angel with the scar responded slowly, "I see. I'll—get the door open."

"Thank you." Hannah breathed, thinking the worst was over, and handing Cas to Sam, whispering in a low voice, "Stay with Daddy, Mommy will be right back."

She walked up to the angel with the scar as the door opened. "Aren't you forgetting something?" To make it clear he gestured back to the car.

Hannah froze for a second in panic. "I think it would be best if he stayed with Sam for now."

"Sam?" The angel with the scar repeated, surprised with the familiarity.

"Sam Winchester." Hannah admitted, thought she assumed the other angel had already guessed the human's identity, "The thing is, Cas isn't just in child's body, he has a mind of a child." Seeing the angel about to open his mouth to ask questions again, she quickly said, "Long story. He's—he's already frightened and going in there with a bunch of strange creatures he doesn't remember who will no doubt have all the same questions you do will make it worst for him."

"I'm sorry, but I must insist." The angel with the scar replied, "But I'll do everything I can to make sure everyone keeps their distance until we get this sorted."

Realizing she wasn't being given an option, Hannah turned around and walked back to the Impala, the angel with the scar right on her heels.

"What's going on?" Sam nervously as she came back, pulling Cas to him. Were they not letting her in? Did they know more than they realized?

"He won't let me in without Cas with me." Hannah explained.

"What?" Sam balked, "Why?"

"Someone shows up with one of our most notorious inexpiably, what, a toddler, and a Winchester, there's going to be some questions." The angel with the scar spoke up

"Look, ah—" Sam began.

"Tabbris." The angel with the scar told him.

"Tabbris." Sam repeated, "There's been some—development you don't know about—"

"Right, that long story Hannah was talking about." Tabbris cut him off, "I promise you; I'll do everything I can to keep him comfortable."

Cas started to whimper. Sam pulled him closer. "It's alright, bud. Everything's going to be alright."

Tabbris looked at the scene for a moment, a look of realization and symphony on his face. "Castiel," He began gently, "I know this is scary, but it would really help your - Mom and me if you can with us."

Cas looked up. "How?"

"It could help provide some—clarity on things." Tabbris answered.

Cas titled his head.

"I mean there some things we're confused on, and coming with me and your mom will help us to be less, okay?" Tabbris responded.

Cas looked to the strange angel, then his mother, then his father. Sam put an arm protectively around Cas. "If he has to come, let me come with him." He requested.

"That wouldn't work for reasons we shouldn't really discuss in front of the child." Tabbris explained before looking Sam directly in the eyes, "But I will personally report to you on what's happening, I promise."

Sam wrapped his arm around Cas' head, covering his ears. "And why would you do that?

"Let's just say I have a long story of my own." Tabbris told them, "Look, I get that you don't trust me. I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to just do as I tell you for a few hours."

Cas crawled across the seat and into his mother arms. Hannah kissed him on the forehead, before turning around, hoping she wasn't making a mistake by following Tabbris' instructions.

Two minutes later in Heaven, dark-haired female angel by the name of Ingrid just happened to be crossing the halls of the plane when she heard a somewhat familiar voice coming down the hall, "You know I can't take him in the jail with me, not with what I'll probably have to do. Even if it wasn't for that, that is no place for—" That was when Hannah and Tabbris rounded the corner, Hannah's voice trailing off when she saw Ingrid.

"Hannah?" Ingrid began, as she had, had a few interactions with Hannah after the later switched sides, as well as a few after, but the whole 'once held her at knife point, albeit for a good reason' thing had put a damper on their relationship a bit. "Tabbris?" Ingrid knew him, just to say hi, if angels said hi. The male angel was one of the only survivors from the intelligence division, so angels tended to keep their distance. That when she saw Cas in Hannah's arms. "Why are you carrying a small child? How—"

"That's Castiel." Tabbris informed, "Apparently."

 _Tell everyone why don't you?_ Hannah thought, tightening her grip on Cas as if she was afraid one of them would rip him from her arms. Maybe she was.

"How—" Ingrid began.

"Long story." Hannah responded, pushing past her, "I'm sorry, but I really don't have time for this."

Ingrid, however, followed after her. "Tabbris, do _you_ know what's going on?"

"Problems with –the boy's grace, that's all she'll say." Tabbris told her.

By chance, there was a meeting of the angels that still went out in the world and did outreach, and because there were only a few actual meeting places for angels, the group crossed their path. The angel known as Flagstaff, just happened to see someone she thought she thought she knew coming by. Alarmed by strange assembly, she said, "Sorry, "and took off, which worried the others so they followed her.

Finally, they caught up with the group. "What's going on?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Ingrid told her.

"Really, all this fuss isn't necessary." Hannah told them, hopping the crowd would dissipate and she could just do what she came here for.

"You come back after on and off radio silence, with another angel who for some reason in the body of a child, of course there's going to be fuss." Ingrid pointed out.

"What?" Flagstaff balked, as she had not seen Cas yet.

Cas didn't like this. He still felt sick, scared, and these people knew him and he didn't know how they knew him or his mommy and they were yelling at them. He nuzzled into his mother's chest and began to whimper.

Ingrid up. "Castiel, act like an adult."

"Yeah, that might be possible." Tabbris spoke up, leaning over to whisper in her ear.

"Really?" Ingrid responded when he finished, "That's…strange."

By that time, they were passing statistics. That was Lailah's area of expertise, and it was her second week back after being rescued from the demons. Hearing a commotion outside, she looked up to see a mob following someone she thought she recognized.

"Hey, are you okay?" An angel next to her, a young-looking female with large glasses.

"Yes." Lailah said getting up, "But there's something I think I need to see about." Then she hurried out of the room.

"Wait, where are you going?" The bespectled angel asked, before running after her.

By chance, Samson was fast walking through a hall of Heavens, as a striking female angel with long, thick brown hair and large brown eyes paced after him. "You seriously think you can just show up out of blue, as I believe the saying goes, expect us to just except you back without question?"

"Well, I guess so since that's what happened, Duma." Samson pointed out in a tense voice. What was her problem? Why couldn't she just leave him alone?

"Well, I don't buy your story." Duma kept up, "Even if you went the entire way from Alaska on foot, no way it took you over year."

"Like I told everyone else, there were demons on my tail, I kept having to hide from them." Samson countered.

"Why didn't you just kill them?" Duma shot back, actually stepping in front of him, "We may have taken a power down grade, but we can still do that, you know."

"There were too many of them." Samson declared.

That was when the growing precession crossed their path, and Samson recognized a rather stressed looking Hannah holding something. "No." He whispered, pushing Duma aside to get to them.

"Where are you going?" Duma demanded, running to catching up with him.

"Oh, just go away, Duma!" Samson shouted, meeting Hannah at the front. "Hannah, what's happen? Why is Cas with you?"

"You knew about this?" Tabbris spoke up.

"Long story." Samson responded.

"I'm beginning to detect that pattern, yeah." Tabbris commented.

"It's his grace." Hannah explained, "It started—" Suddenly she began dizzy and had to fight to stay on her feet.

Samson caught her before she fell over. "Hannah? Hannah, are you alright?"

"Yes." Hannah nodded, "I'm been giving dosing him with bits of my grace for the last few days, I'm guess I'm still a little weak from the last round."

Lowering her voice so only she could hear, he asked, "And you're sure that's it?"

"Yes." Hannah responded, "What else would it be?"

Samson decided to drop it as he believed he was probably wrong anyway. Even with the liberties he believed she had taken; she and Sam Winchester were no doubt careful enough for it not to happen. "Nothing." After a beat he asked, still in a low voice, "Hannah, why did you bring him down here?"

"He wouldn't give me any choice." Hannah told him, gesturing to Tabbris.

Samson shot daggers at Tabbris who actually shrunk back as if embarrassed. He had no clue all this would ensure.

Having made his point, Samson looked back to Hannah. "Do you need me to take him while you do with this?"

"That would be great, thank you." Hannah replied, trying to transfer the child only to find Cas desperately clinging to her shirt. Turning the group, she said, "I need to get him settled somewhere, but I promise I'll explain everything just—just stay here."

Surprisingly enough, the angels honored the request, staying in the hall and Hannah and Samson walked away.

They found a secluded hallway of heavens and walked to the end of it. "Ssh, ssh, little one." Hannah whispered, "No need for tears." Crouching down she set him in a corner, pulling Coat, which they had been using as a blanket up to that point, tighter around him.

"I'se don't like it here." Cas sniffled, "I'se want Daddy. I'se want Dean!"

"I know, I know, I know." Hannah soothed, wiping some hair out of his forehead, "But Mommy needs to get your medicine. Why don't just stay here with Sampson and take a nap and when you wake up this will all be over and you can go home back to Dean." _I hope._ "You remember, Samson, right? Mommy's friend?"

Samson gave the child a little wave, hopping to appear friendly.

"Will stay till I get to sleep?" Cas requested.

"Of course." Hannah promised, taking off her blazer and folding it up to give him a cushion, then re-covered him with coat as she began to sing, one of his favorites, " _Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques, Dormez vous? Dormerz vous…"_

Outside, Sam was about to start bouncing off the walls. He couldn't say he'd never felt this helpless in his life, but there were very few times he felt _this_ helping. His child was sick, possibly dying, and the only hope of a permeant solution was in a place he couldn't physically go. But the was something he could do. He could pick up a phone and check on Dean.

Reason picked up the phone on the first ring. "Sam? Any word?"

"Not yet." Sam replied, "They made her take him inside."

"What?" Reason balked, "Why?!"

"I don't know." Sam responded, "I'm just—waiting out here to hear from them." After a beat he asked, "How's Dean?"

"We've had a couple of tantrums, but other than that, he's doing as well as could be as expected." Reason said, glancing back to where the children were sat down to a lunch of chicken soup and bread with lemon marmalade. "He's just—really worried about his brother."

"Yeah, yeah, that makes three of us." Sam laughed bitterly.

Hannah returned to found the group had grown, as other passing angels had taken noticed and stopped, or had heard something was going on went to see what it was. They all turned to her expectantly. "He's asleep." She told them.

"Hannah, what's going on?" Flagstaff spoke up, apparently once again the spokesperson for the group, "You were already nearly completely radio silent, and yes, last time you were here you gave good reasons for that, North American is indeed a large land mass but—now you show up with Castiel in the body of a toddler and accounting to Tabbris he thinks you're his mother and Sam Winchester, who is apparently waiting outside the gate as we speak is his father?" After a beat she got to the point, "Hannah, what is going on?"

Hannah took a deep breath before begin. "Alright, the truth is, last year, a witch was trying to perform a spell, that would presumably remove the Mark of Cain from Dean Winchester, which, you may or may not have realized he bore. Things went wrong, and Castiel threw me and Sam Winchester out of the room where the spell was being performed and went back for Dean, but before he could get to him the spell went off and he was crossed in the cross fire and they were both turned into toddlers, with no memory of their who they were, which is part of the reason they think we're their parents. We—tried to find a reversal spell, but everything we found was potentially lethal if it was the wrong one, so Sam came up with the idea to just –raise them and give them a fresh start. Now before you ask, I did object at first and was going to take Cas back here to try to find a solution, but Sam pointed out we do not know anything about taking care of a child, and knowing what I know now I firmly believe that had I returned with Cas, he would have died of accidental neglect or abuse within a week." She took another breath, "Now, any questions?"

There was a moment of silence as everyone processed what they had just been told, then Duma raised her hand. "So, you just unilaterally made this decision all by yourself?"

Hannah paused for a minute. "I suppose I did." She admitted at last, "But it was crazy time. And both Castiel and Dean Winchester still have enemies, some of them up here. If I told everyone what was going on and the wrong angel found out they were this vulnerable, it's be as good as signing their death warrants."

"She actually might have a point there." Flagstaff gave in, "I mean, not too long-ago half of us here were trying to force an adult Castiel to _kill_ an adult Dean Winchester. "

"Ah, wasn't _she_ the one shoving a blade at him saying it was the only we would all stay?" An angel in the back pointed out.

Hannah lowered her eyes remorsefully. "And I deeply regret that now."

"That's very touching." Duma, who seemed intent on turning the crown against Hannah, snarked, "But if I remember currently, wasn't there a job you were supposed to be doing when you were playing happy family with Lucifer's former vessel?"

"A job I was and still am, doing." Hannah countered, "Most of the rouges and stragglers I've rounded up were _after_ the incident. It's just going slower because I don't have all the time in the world to work."

"It's true." Areal spoke up the other angels she had fetched by her side, as if presenting themselves as exabit A in the case for the defense of Hannah Winchester, "She brought us all back and she assisting Castiel for maybe three of us. The rest she there taking charge, on her own or with the help of a human."

Hannah stared Duma and few others down as if to say, _try to argue with THAT. I dare you._

"Alright, Hannah," Flagstaff began again, "Perhaps you were in the right but—Sam Winchester? Is he really the one you should be engaging in this endeavor with? Especially with impressionable children."

"I know he has a past." Hannah admitted, "I know that may be a bit of an understatement. But he's also the kindest, sweetest man, and he would die for those boys. Plus, I had no clue what I was doing those first few weeks. Both them now require food and sleep and affection and tried engage two different house hold appliances in combat, and one time came close to seriously scalding someone."

That statement was met with a series of confused looks.

"I was trying to make instant oatmeal and I thought the whistling meant the kettle was going to try to attack us." Hannah explained, "Plus, Dean's his brother. I had no right."

"So, you leave your children in the care of an abomination because he can make oatmeal?" Duma snarked.

"I'll have you know Sam blood has been purified of all demon taint for over two years." Hannah snapped at her, "So you should hold your tongue on matters you know nothing about. A-And people can change, or did you all miss the fact that we're fifteen feet away from Herbert Kuppler's Heaven?" After a beat she switched gears, "Now, the reason I came where with Cas is because his grace is fading and I need to find his actual grace, and I wanted to try getting the answer out of Metatron one more go, so, may I get on with my business?"

Two minutes later, Hannah stepped into Heaven's jail, where at the moment the only occupied was that of a certainly short, curly haired angel in a strait jacket. "Well, well, well, "Metatron grinned, "Look who came back. I was actually beginning to think I'd never see you again. So, is your, uh, boyfriend going to come interrupt us again or can we actually get somewhere this time?

"Stuff it, Metatron." Hannah ordered, turning to the face the cell with her arms folded.

"Wait a minute, didn't you have a jacket last time?" Metatron asked, "You must be really desperate to go the 'peep show' route, not that I'm interested. Does Cas know you're officially pimping yourself out for him?"

Hannah go close enough to stick her hand in the cell, reared the hand back slapped Metatron full in the face almost causing the ex-scribe to topple over. The she pulled her hand back folding her arms again. "Here's my one and only offer Metatron. You know tell where you hid Castiel's grace and I won't Jerry-rig a Judas Cradle out of warded chains and angel blades and test it out on you."

Metatron managed to keep himself from falling over. "Judas Cradle?"

"It's a torture device from the Spanish inquisition that—" Hannah began.

"I-I know what it is." Metatron cut her off, "I've seen a few _Surviving History_ episodes,apparently you have too,but-who are you and what have you done with Hannah?!"

Meanwhile, outside, off the phone now, Sam peered out the window for the hundredth or so time, desperate for word about his wife and son. "Screw it." He said out loud, before opening the door and getting out. He walked up to the park and then to the swings around the area he had seen the door. "Hey!" He called out, "Hey! Can anybody here me in here! Or up there."

In Heaven, Samson was watching Cas sleep, curled up in a little ball of the floor, when heard a voice rang out in his head. At first, he thought it was just a prayer, then he realized he recognized the voice. _Sam?_

However, before he could figure out what to do, he heard footsteps coming down the hall and then Flagstaff came into view. "I'm not here to start anything, brother." She began, her hands out in front of her, "I just—I just wanted to look."

"You can look from there." Samson said, stepping in front of her, his arms crossed. Hannah had entrusted him with one of her children, and he was determined to see to it that he was shape. Plus, he didn't want Cas to wake up.

Flagstaff moved her head to peer behind the other angel. "He really does need sleep, doesn't he?"

"If the way he's snoozing is any indication, he does." Samson responded.

"You knew about this, didn't you? "Flagstaff deduced, "They way you immediately went to her, and—you were the only one she trusted him with. You didn't even stay for her explanation." After a beat she asked, "Brother, what _did_ take you so long to get back?"

"That that can wait." Samson told her, "And I'm Samson, by the way."

"Even my fellow angels have taken to calling me Flagstaff now." She told him, "Samson, can you tell me one thing? Do you think she knows what she's doing?"

Before Samson could answer, Areal, Amenadiel, and Sariel, the angel Hannah sprung form a mental institution in Washington State, walked up. "We came in later." Sariel explained, "We just wanted to see for ourselves."

"You know," Areal said, looking at the sleeping child, "Sshe was helping me with…something I had to take care of before I could come back, she called someone, a hunter, to help with part of it. I thought nothing of it at the time but, I think they got into some kind of fight outside. I think…maybe that was Sam Winchester and perhaps he brought the children with him."

"Well, that doesn't exactly instill my confidence in the man." Flagstaff commented.

As Areal was speaking, Ingrid had come up to the corner, followed by Isaac another one of Hannah's stragglers. "I'm still not sure about this." Ingrid said, "Perhaps if she can get Castiel's grace back, we should compel her to keep him here."

"Do you hear what you're saying?" Isaac spoke up, "It's attitudes like that, that's shows exactly why she should be allowed to return to Earth with him. "

"They can't provide what he needs." Ingrid argued.

" _We_ can't provide what he needs. "Isaac countered, "I met humans with children on Earth, I met _children,_ and not only was Hannah correct in her statements as of need of food and sleep and affection, they can also be frustrating irrational creatures, that are totally dependent on their guardians. When they're really young if you don't talk to them or hold them enough, they can become slow-witted and mal-adjusted. You can literally kill them by handling too roughly. "His eyes darted over to where Cas was sleeping, "Who among us is ready to take up that responsibility? You?"

"Not that I'm necessarily agree with Ingrid, as forcing her seems a bit extreme, but we all manage the affairs of the Heaven." Flagstaff spoke up again, "How hard could raising one child be?"

That was when the noise woke Cas up, the baby angel letting out a small soft noise, as he sat up looking around. "Where's Mommy? Why these people here?"

Samson looked back at Cas then turned to Flagstaff, lowering his voice. "You just woke him up. Does that answer your question?"

"Like Hannah's never woke him up." Flagstaff brush his concerns off before trying to take a few steps towards the child, only to be blocked by not only Samson, by Areal, Amendiel and Sariel as well, all looking like they meant business. "I just want to speak to him, I promise I won't do anything rash, or harm him in anyway."

The angels stepped back, but kept a close eye on their sister as she approached. "It's alright," Flagstaff told him, "I'm a friend of your mothers. My name's Flagstaff."

"I'm Cas." He told her.

"It's nice to meet you, Cas." Flagstaff told him, "While we wait for you mother, can I ask you a few questions?"

Cas looked at her dubiously, but nodded.

"Do you like it here?" Flagstaff asked.

Cas shook his head. "I wanna go home."

"But you are you home." Ingrid spoke up, sounding almost confused.

Tears welled up and Cas' eyes. "No, I'm not!"

Samson shot Ingrid a look as if to say, _I told you so._

"Then where's home, Cas?" Flagstaff asked.

"Highway 67." Cas told him, "My Daddy is Sam Winchester, his phone number is 555-1010-888. My Mommy is Hannah Winchester, her phone number is 555-umm…um…I don't know all her phone number yet. But she's teaching me."

"Hannah Winchester?" Ingrid whispered.

"She must be using their last name to avoid confusing the children." Samson covered quickly.

"Well, that was still very impressive for one so small." Flagstaff assured him, "Cas, can you tell me _why_ and Hannah are your Mommy and Daddy?"

Cas looked at her confused. "Because they are."

Flagstaff looked to the others for help.

"I told you." Isaac declared.

Flagstaff decided to try something else. "Cas, can you tell me what species you are?"

That just made him even more confused. "What's a species?" Then a gnawing feeling in his stomach distracted him. "I'se hungry."

Flagstaff looked to the others for help, walking back to them as they formed something of the other. "So, what do you we do now?"

"You were the on who raising a child wasn't that hard." Isaac snarked, "You tell me."

Flagstaff just stood there, floundering.

That was when Areal had an idea. "Do we have any mana left from the Israelites forty years in the wilderness?"

"Won't that be too old to eat?" Sariel asked, "It's literally thousands of years old."

"It's a chance we're going to half to take." Flagstaff said. After a beat she realized on probably with this plan. "Does anyone know where it is?"

"Or alternatively someone could go down there, give Sam Winchester an update on how Cas is doing, and ask for a ride into town to get something from one of the stores." Samson suggested.

"What if he won't help?" Ingrid asked.

"He's not going to sit there and let his child go hungry." Samson insisted.

"Alright, I'll go do it." Flagstaff volunteered reluctantly, walking off to open the door.

What none of them realized was, while they were hashing that out, Duma was creeping down the side of adjacent hallway. She peaked out and saw Cas sitting there while the others were distracted. Cas looked up and saw her.

"Pssh!" She hissed, "Come here."

Cas, however, refused to move.

Biting back a grunt of frustration, Duma ran out, and scooped the child up, shoving his face into her chest to muffle his cries as she ran off.

A few seconds later, Samson turned to talk to Cas, to find to his horror, Hannah's jacket and Coat, but no little angel.

"Cas!" Samson called out, panicked, "Castiel!"

Tabbris, the angel who had insisted on Hannah bringing Castiel, was unaware of all this as after dropping Hannah off at the jail, he had snuck off to the rows of personal Heavens and was currently starring in front of a door that read JANE KEATON. Taking a deep, shuttering breath, he opened it up.

Stepping inside, he found himself in someone's living room, a leather chesterfield sofa, and a solid wooden coffee table, that had been pulled out and pushed out of the way. A girl who looked to be in her early or mid-twenties, dressed in a green silk dress spinning around the braided rug in the center of the room with an imaginary dance partner as music played. _Well you only need the when it's burning low. Only hate the son when it's starts to snow. Only know you love her when you let her go…._ Realizing she was no longer alone; she froze for a moment. "Oh, _now_ you show up."

"I'm sorry, Jane." Tabbris told her sincerely, "I should have been here. Your mother told me this was important. I'll always regret that you had to dance alone." Of course, his absence wasn't the only reason she had to dance alone. The girl had basically had a one person sweet sixteen because she was too scared to get close to anyone.

"Really?" Jane responded, " _That's_ your biggest regret?"

"Not the biggest." Tabbris told her, "Just one."

"Why are you here, Dad?" Jane asked, "Aren't –they going to notice?"

"They're a little distracted right now." Tabbris told her, "I'm here because something's happened that's—making me reconsider things. I thought—seeing you might help me figure things out."

"Oh." Jane responded, somewhat disappointed with the answer.

"I do miss you, Jane." Tabbris told her, taking a step towards her, "Every day. Losing you is a wound that will never heal, for me or your mother. "With he extended shaking hands, brushing his fingers with hers. "As long as I'm here—can I make it up to you?"

Meanwhile, Hannah was tying warded chains to the roof of the jail and securing more to the floor. _I'm not sure this is gonna work._ She thought, _Maybe I should make strappodo instead._

"Look, Hannah I'm sorry about that—peep show comment. "Metatron was saying, actually starting to get nervous, "You are a very classy lady who would never stoop to such things. And I'm sorry for everything I said the last time you were here. I was clearly wrong about you—really wrong. Can't we—can't we talk about this?"

Yanking a chain in place Hannah turned to glare at him. "The only thing I want to hear coming out of your mouth, is where my son's grace is."

"Son?!" Metatron repeated, "You've gone totally off the deep in, haven't you? Help! Insane angel in here! Help! Are you seriously going to let her do this?! Even under the old regime you didn't do _this_ —which considering they things you did do seems a bit arbitrary—but still! Help!"

"Maybe I should've made a pair of anguish instead. "Hannah murdered to herself, trying to figure out how many angel blades would make a good triangle substitute.

Meanwhile, Sam was had fallen to his knees in the playground. "Listen, I still—have no clue where you or if you're hearing this, but I'm willing to make you a deal right now. Take me. I'm offering you a trade a trade, me for him. He's— he's just a little boy. Please, don't do this."

It is unclear whether or not Sam desperate prayer reached its intended source, but it reached who it needed to.

Tabbris was dancing with Jane when Sam's words rang out in his head. _I'm offering you a trade, me for him. He's – he's just a little boy._

"Dad," Jane began, seeing the stricken look on his face, "What's wrong?"

"I have to go." Tabbris declared, pulling away, "I'm sorry, I love you, but I have to go. There's something I have to do." He kissed her on the forehead, "I love you." And with that he ran from his daughter's Heaven, the song still playing.

 _Only know you love her when you let her go. And you let her go…_

Meanwhile, in their frantic the group had gathered other angels, including angels that had no yet been alerted to the situation. One of them, a dark-skinned male named Indra was walking down the halls calling out, "Castiel! Come on little guy, this isn't funny!" When he heard noises that sounded like a crying child.

"Will you just shut up!" Duma snapped, "And stop squirming, you're gonna make me—"

"Duma?" Indra balked at the scene, "What are you doing?"

Started, Duma dropped her kidnaping victim and Cas fell on his back, twisting a wing. "Ow!"

Duma's hold body tensed. "Shut. Up. You. Brat."

"Do you realize half of Heaven is looking for him?" Indra asked, pointing to the crying child who was currently trying right himself, kicking like turtle.

Duma grabbed Indra's arm and pulled him into a corner. "We can't lose this opportunity. Castiel has no memory of the past, he's young, malleable. We can train him to our liking."

"Because the higher ups didn't do that before?" Indra countered.

"It'll be different this time." Duma insisted.

"My wing hurts." Cas whimpered, holding the twisted wing, "I want my Mommy."

"Well, you can't have her!" Duma snapped, causing Cas to cry even more. Duma grabbed the sides of her hair, groaning.

"You know you're not helping your case here, right?" Indra told her, as he even he realized _that_ had been unnecessarily cruel, "What could we possibly gain from this, Duma?"

"I think we would agree him not constantly turning against us and/or trying to kill us would be beneficial." Duma declared.

"That and 'taming' the 'ultimate rebel' would be a nice feather in your cap, as I believe the saying a go." A voice behind them said, "Help you up that ladder you've been so desperate to climb for centuries."

They both turned to see an olive-skinned female angel they had never seen before with long dark hair. "Who are you?" Duma demanded.

"You probably wouldn't know me, but my name's Ruth." She told them, "I heard about the littlest angel and then I heard he was lost, and what should I find but you in the middle of the kidnapping. I wish I could be surprise."

Duma took a step towards Ruth. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ruth rounded Duma. "It means that you may play the part of the ho-hum average angel who just does her job and stays in line, but you—you want power. Position. You want to remake everything in your twisted imagine. And I'm sorry, but that's not happening today. Now, I'm going to take the child and if you're lucky maybe I won't throw you to his foster mother to deal with."

While this was happening, Cas, still holding his injured wing, had ran down the hall Ruth had come from, wanting to get away from the mean lady and her friends.

Just after he slipped out of view Ruth finished her treat and turned to find Castiel gone. "Where'd he go?'

Cas slowly walked down a hall with more doors than he had ever and writing he couldn't read, holding his injured wing close him, calling out softly, "Mommy? Mommy?" Where was she? She'd promise she'd be back when he woke up. He wanted her.

As it happened, in the Heaven of one Robert "Bobby" Singer, Ash had finally found the place and had stopped in for a visit, the men sitting down with two beers. "So, she gave you what?" Bobby was asking.

"A soap dispenser." Ash answered, " _Bath and Body Works._ I don't know why either."

"I must have missed that chapter of _The Five People You Meet in Heaven."_ Bobby commented, taking a sip of his beer.

That was when they heard it. As child's voice calling for their mother. "Hey, Bobby," Ash began, "Is there a little kid in this memory?"

"Well, I've never been sure exactly which memory this is." Bobby admitted, standing and looking around, "But the kid's new."

"It almost sounds like…." Ash began, "But it couldn't be? Could it?"

"Ah, Ash, you want to share with the class?" Bobby asked.

Instead of answering Ash went to where he figured out the door was, opening revealing a long white hall where a small child that looked to be about two or three, with dark black wings, one of which he was holding as he walked around, calling, "M-Mommy?"

Both men stepped out, Bobby stopping at the door as to not overwhelm the boy. "Hey, little man," Ash began, crouching down in front of him. Startled the child reared back. "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you me and my friend only want to help. Now, I'm Ash, and that over there is Bobby."

"I'm Cas Winchester." The youngster introduced himself, causing the men to exchange looks.

"Awesome." Ash responded, turning back to the kids, "Tell me, what's a kid like you doing in a place like this?"

"I'se was sick and Mommy and Daddy took me here to get medicine." Cas began, "But then the man made me come inside and everyone was mad and asking questions and then a mean lady picked me up and I didn't want to go with her but she made me and then she dropped me and hurt my wing and she yelled at me so I ran away and I'se don't know where I'se am and I'se want—I'se want—" By this time Cas was talking so fast and he was getting so work up and upset that men couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Alright, little man, I need you to take a deep breath for me, can you do that?" Ash requested.

Cas took a deep, slow breath.

"Now, let it out." Ash instructed.

Cas exhaled slowly.

"Now, do that a couple of more times for me." Ash told him, "Feels better, don't it?"

Cas nodded.

"Now, are your parents still up here?" Ash asked.

"My Mommy's supposed to be." Cas answer, "But I'se don't know where she is. I'se hafta find her. "He looked up at Ash with wide eyes, "Can you help me?"

Ash extended a hand saying as Cas took it. "You can to the right place little man. I have this whole place wired. If she's here, I can find her." And as they walked inside Bobby shut the door.

Meanwhile, unaware of the search that was taking place, Flagstaff hand found Sam still in prayer. "Um, excuse me, Sam Winchester?" She said awkwardly, not sure what to do.

Sam looked up. "How's he doing?"

"He's stable." Flagstaff told him, "And he's hungry. We were hoping maybe—you can help."

"Of course." Sam responded, getting to his feet. He ran to the Impala and pulled a bag out, putting on the back and seat and opening it, pulling out two white soft-looking rounds, and a yellow bag. "He's, ah, only been eating in small amounts since—since he crashed, but, um, if he wants more just—you know, what I'll grab you a couple more in case he's still hungry." He handed Flagstaff the provisions before going back for more.

" _Uncrustables_ and yogurt melts?" Flagstaff questioned.

"Yeah, I know those sandwiches have a ton of sugar, but we just—gathered things on the run when we got gas, we were trying to make the minimum number of stops, and normally he can put some PB and Js away. That'd probably be the only thing he'd eat if we let him." By that point Sam was visibly shaking, as she pulled out a small bottle of apple juice, and a clear snippy cup decorated with dinosaurs topped with a blue lid, turning around and handing it to the angel in the white coat. "They're still getting the hang of big kid cups and bottles, so you might want to put the juice into the cup or things could get really sticky."

Flagstaff took the offered drink and cup. "These are all…things a child would like. What have you been eating this whole time?"

"I, ah, I'm not really sure if I have or not, to be honest." Sam admitted, "I can't really remember. I mean, I think I remember grabbing something from the gas station at the border we had stop at for more gas. "If he was being more accurate, he would've said Hannah forced him to eat something so he wouldn't pass out.

Flagstaff put what he hopped was a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder. "He's going to be alright. Hannah's very determined to get the location of his grace. _Very_ determined. It's actually kind of scary."

"Blaine!" Metatron shouted in the jail, his arms tied behind his back with the chain and his legs tied in front of him, suspended in the air above a bundle of angel's blades Hannah had tied together.

"What?" Hannah responded, keeping a tight grasp on the chains in her hands, keeping him just above the bundle.

"I hid Castiel's grace at a library in Blaine, Missouri." Metatron elaborated.

Hannah made a baffled face. "You hid his grace in a _library?"_

"Nobody goes to Libraries anymore." Metatron reasoned, "It's the safest place in the world."

"Parents take their young children in for programs." Hannah countered, " Homeschool families use libraries. Do you realize how disastrous that could've gone?'

"Well, hopefully he didn't hide them in the children section!" Metatron responded.

Hannah narrowed her eyes. "He who?"

Metatron squirmed for a minute, before coming out with. "Alright, I picked the location, I can give you the address, but I can't give you the exact location because I had another angel hide it even from me. You know, in case someone tries to torture the information out of me." He gestured to the chains with his head. "Case in point. Although, this part was a surprise, the construction is actually very impressive."

"Well, which angel hid it?!" Hannah demanded,

Just then, as if on cue, the door burst pen, revealing Tabbris. "I know where Cas' grace is, I can take you to it."

"That guy." Metatron spoke up, gesturing to Tabbris to his, "That's the guy."

Hannah stared at Tabbris, still processing what she was being told. "Why—why didn't you just tell me?"

"Because I didn't know what to do." Tabbris breathed, "Jane—the Nephilim that—monster over there and Cas killed for the spell the expel us for Heaven, was my daughter."

The other two angels were silent with shock.

Tabbris continued to explain. "I worked in integllence before the fall, I –used my position to hide my rendezvous with my lover and later hide our child. I don't-I don't even know how he found out she existed. "He took a minute to recompose himself, then began again, "My daughter is brutally murdered, her heart cut from her chest, and then we're all kicked out of Heaven? Didn't take much to put two and two together. I positioned myself so that I would know where Castiel's grace, was, where I could find it so I could keep him vulnerable and find him and kill him and then kill Metatron. Then he took another angel's grace and I knew, all I had to do was wait. Once Cas was gone, I was going to sneak in here and deal with him." He pointed to the ex-scribe, "But then…you came in with Cas like that and you were so desperate and -and I started to waver, and then I heard Sam Winchester's prayer. I—I can't let another parent go through what me and Jane's mother went through, not when I can do something about it. "He extended a hand to Hannah, "Please, come with me. I'll take you right to it, I promise."

Hannah looked at the hand, unsure of what to do given all she had just learned. What if it was a trap? But if it was, why would he had revealed all that?

She had to take the chance.

She hurried towards to him, momentarily forgetting about a certain ex-scribe she had left in a precarious position. "Ah, hello?!" Metatron called out, "Isn't anybody gonna get me down from this thing?!"

Both angels looked back. "No time." Tabbris told him, "But while you're up there, I want you to think about a name. Jane Keaton. Twenty-six years old. Kept under the radar her whole life, never hurt anybody. Loved to dance."

"As long you're doing that, I have three more you can think about." Hannah added coolly, "Abdiel. Elisheba. Raquel. The best sisters anyone ever had."

Then they both turned, leaving the ex-scribe of God suspended in the air, _really_ hoping the chains held.

"Okay," Jo said, walking up to where they had Cas sat on the table, "Apparently Mom had bunch of my old toys in the attic. I got um, a plastic top, a little yellow truck, puzzle of some kind, and, um," She pulled out a blonde plastic doll with a real-life knife ran through its chest, "Vatala Barbie. Maybe, not give you that one." She tossed the doll over her shoulder and sat the rest of the box next to Cas, hopping he could actually play with them. They weren't use to dealing with completely corporeal people up here, so they were playing everything by ear. But Bobby had been able to set his wing back in to the place, so maybe this would work.

Cas looked in the box and pulled out the pink top, looking at it for a minute, moving it back and forth with his hands, before looking up at Ash, who was working at a lap top he brought when he fetched Jo.

"Whoa, you got everybody looking for you little man." Ash told him, "I haven't seen this many angels this freaked out, since that whole—fall business a couple years ago."

"Is my Mommy looking for me?" Cas asked. He liked these people a lot better than the other ones, especially that mean lady who dropped them, but he still really wanted to go home.

"Of course, she is." Bobby assured him, "Ash will find her any minute now."

"Yeah, like I said, it's just a lot of talking to go through." Ash told, "I think I might have accidently finally found your grandparent's Heaven's thought. That's sorta been my great white celestial wale for years."

"Huh?" Cas responded; his head tilted in confusion.

"Ash, we agreed we weren't going to talk about that." Bobby reminded him in a low voice.

After short interview with the toddler the deceased hunters had figured out three things: One, the tiny angel before him was probably the Castiel Bobby had knew and Jo had met just before her death. Two: He had been de aged somehow and had no reclination of being an adult. Three: Sam Winchester was his guardian along with some female angel they had never heard of before. Based off that they had deduced they weren't going to reveal their sixteen degrees of separation from the child until they knew for sure what his parents had told him.

Just then was a beeping from the lap top. "Oph!" Ash utter, "I think I've found something."

At about that time, Hannah and Tabbris ran to spot when she had left Samson and Castiel, only to be greeted with an empty hallway and the sound of angels screaming out the child's name. "What—" Hannah began.

Suddenly, Samson appeared in front of them. "Hannah, I'm so sorry." He told her, frantic, "I don't know how—"

"Samson, Samson, slow down." Hannah urged, "What happened?"

"He—he woke up, said he was hungry." Samson began, "We were trying to figure out what to do and when we turned around, he was just—gone."

That awful knot formed in her again. "What?"

That was how Hannah wound up running through the halls of Heaven, Tabbris at her side. "Cas!" She called out, "Castiel!"

"Castiel!" Tabbris called as well.

That was when they saw Duma coming up the way, muttering to herself, but other than that, oddly calm. The females' eyes met, and Hannah knew what she had done.

"Where's my son?" Hannah demanded, marching towards her.

Playing it cool, Duma folded her arms. "He's safe. From you." Then suddenly she found herself being thrown against the wall, an angel blade at her throat.

"If you don't tell me where he is right now, I swear, I'll—" Hannah began through gritted teeth

"You'll what?" Duma grinned at her mockingly, "Kill me. Face it, so time among humans has made you soft." Her eyes looked Hannah up and down, "If not worst."

Hannah began to put more pressure on the neck, when she heard a voice behind her cry out, "Mommy!"

She turned around to find two men, one who was holding her son that she had never seen before, one she recognized from pictures she had seen as Bobby Singer. The man Hannah didn't recognize put Cas on the ground and mother and child ran to each other, Hannah scooping him up. "Are you alright?" She asked, holding him to her chest and trying not cry.

Cas pointed at Duma. "She hurt my wing."

In looks could kill, the one Hannah sent to Duma would've knocked her dead.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she's dealt with personally." Tabbris assured her, "Right now the important thing we get him what he needs, alright."

Hannah nodded looking from Tabbris to the hunters. "Thank you. Thank you from bringing him back safely to."

"No problem." Bobby told her, "But, um, if you don't mind, can we talk when it's better for you? Everyone's got a few questions about this."

Hannah nodded. "Of course."

When the trio of angels arrived at the door, there was large group of angels waiting for them, Flagstaff, Ingrid, and Samson at the lead. "Hannah, I am so sorry." Ingrid began, "You were right about everything. This experience has taught us that we may be angents of fate, warriors of Heaven but we are clearly not equipped to meet the physical or emotional needs of a child, even if that child is one of our own. If you still wish to return to Earth and raise Castiel among humans, you have our blessing."

Hannah released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding until that moment. "Thank you."

Samson carefully approached. "Castiel, I'm so sorry. I took my eye off you and I shouldn't."

Cas reached out to the larger angel. "It's alright, Mr. Samson, I'se forgive you."

Flagstaff approached last, pulling out the food and drink. "His father gave me this to bring down." She explained, "Though it looks like it'll be for the road."

Hannah nodded. "Yes."

"Here it is." Tabbris told her a day and a half later, taking the grace out of a copy of _Don Quixote._ "Good thing no one had an assignment with this." He commented as he handed it to her.

Taking into her hand, Hannah just stared at the jar of glowing white either for a minute. After all this time, after everything that happened, it almost didn't seem real. Shaking it off, she walked off, when Tabbris grabbed her wrist. "Hannah. While we're alone, I need to talk to you about something. About you and Sam. As you might have gathered, I've had some…experience when it comes to loving a human, I know what it looks like."

Hannah thought she might be sick again.

"Now, for the same reason, you have nothing to fear from me." Tabbris assured her, "But, uh, there's something else I noticed. You've gotten sick the whole way up here."

"It's just—stress." Hannah brushed him off, "The stress of the situation combined with my weak grace."

"Hannah, your grace recharged days ago." Tabbris told her, "There's another possibly…"

Three minutes later Hannah marched out of the library Tabbris behind her. Sam, in the car with Cas, looked up. "Was it still there?"

"Just where he said it'd be." Hannah told him, sliding in so that Cas was between them, "Open wide little one."

Cas opened his mouth into a circle and Hannah uncapped the lid. The glowing white vapor came out from the bottle slipping into Cas' mouth as if it knew what it was going. Suddenly, the toddler glowed for a moment before it faded.

"How do you feel, bud?" Sam asked nervously.

"Better!" Cas grinned, giving his wings a small flap, "Can we go home?"

Both parents let out relieved laughs. "Yes, little one." Hannah told him, "We can go home."

As they pulled up to Reason's trailer, Dean was out the door before they could even get parked. "Cas!" He shouted running for his brother as his parents got him out of the car seat. The pair hugged tightly. "I missed you!" Dean shouted, "I missed you, I missed you, I missed you so, so much!"

"I missed you, too!" Cas told him.

Both turning attention to their parents, Dean asked, "Is Cas better now?"

Hannah nodded as Sam said, "Yeah. He's all better."

Shortly after the adults sat on the front stoop as the children played in the front yard. "So, I guess this is it, then." Reason guessed.

"What is?" Sam asked.

"Well, you got the Mark off of, or rather, out of Dean, and Cas has his grace back." Reason elaborated, "No littler nasty surprises."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sam said, breaking into a grin.

Hannah for her part, looked out to the children, putting a hand on her stomach, hopping Reason was right.


	72. October Surprise

**AN: I am so sorry. Hopefully the reveal makes up for it. Really sorry.**

"Alright, Dean, lean in a little bit." Sam instructed, holding his phone up to look at the boys.

The parents had been worried about letting Cas go out so soon after his crash and getting his grace back, but both of the boys had wanted to go out so badly, and that point they would've both found a way to get either child the moon if they asked for it.  
Dean was dressed in a mixture of plastic and cardboard in a knight costume and Cas was draped in black cloth, even his wings, making the least threatening dragon ever.

Sam snapped the picture and Hannah leaned down to adjust Dean's helmet. "You both look perfect little ones." She told them before standing upright again. "I'll be back in a minute; I just need to go freshen up before Reason and Maudie get here."

"Since you do freshen up?" Sam questioned, surprised.

"There's a first time for everything." Hannah deflected walking off.

Hannah wound up in a bathroom pratically on the other side of the bunker. She pulled open a drawer, looking at the _Error Proof_ test still in its box.

She had bought the test the day after they returned from Missouri, but she hadn't taken it yet. At first, she was sure that she wasn't pregnant. That Tabbris had been wrong in addition to overstepping. She was on two kinds of birth control and Sam always used protection, after all. But then she kept getting sick. She had to at least consider the possibility. She had just been too scared of what it could mean if the test read yes. It was going to change everything.

But she wasn't taking it tonight. If crap was going to hit the fan, she just wanted one more happy memory for all of them before it hit the fan. She closed the drawer and walked back out.

When Hannah arrived back at the stairs, Sam was taking more pictures of their knight and dragon, now joined by a tiny snow queen, her honey blonde braid to one side. Maudie turned her head when Hannah came back into the room. "Hi, Miss Hannah."

"Hello," Hannah greeted her, crouching so she was the girl's high, "You look adorable."

Maudie grinned, somehow making her look even cuter. "Thank you."

Reason smirked, leaning down with the harness. "Come on, Elsa. Let's get this show on the road."

At the start for the trunk or treat, they ran into Elsbeth, who had three princesses with her: A little three year old princess Ana with blue gossamer sleeves, a fired hair non- _Disney_ princess, in a black dress with a bodice decorated with a rib cage, the ends of the skirt of the dress decorated with an intricate white design with skulls at the center, and black tiara in her hair, and much to Maudie's display, a seven year old queen with a flowing blue cape, her curtly hair in a twist.

"Hey!" Both girls exclaimed at the same time, both scrunching up their face at the audacity of the other to copy their costume idea.

The parents couldn't help but laugh. "Ah, girls, if you're going get upset every time someone has the same costume as you, you are in for a long night." Elsbeth told them.

It was true. There was at least half a dozen little Queen Elsa's running around asking for treats in addition to their girls.

Having that sorted, they headed to the first car, which was Serena Joy and her sisters again, this year decked out in princess gear. "Hey," Serena Joy began, contorting her face in mock anger, pointing between the row of girls. "You all copied us."

The girls giggled.

"Really, thought that is impressive." Priscilla Jean spoke up, pointing at each child, "Did you guys coordinate this?"

"No," Sam answered, the kids shaking their heads rather uncoordinatedly in agreement, "It's just a consequence."

"Well, It's abortable. "Norma Jean told them, leaning down with the bowel, "What's the magic word, kids?"

"Trick 'er treat." The kinds called out before digging into a bowel of Halloween theme treats, pumpkin peanut butter cups, fudge filled skulls, and Krispy witches.

The gaggle of families walked from car to car, eventually arriving at eventually coming to one where the trunk was decked out like a big purple monster with a long red tongued rolled out, leading to three purple buckets with jack o lanterns faces in the trunk.

Cas and Dory weren't sure how they felt about that trunk. That trunk looked like it might eat them. Cas ran to his Mom and Dory hid behind her step mother's legs.

"What's wrong, my angel?" Elsbeth asked, rubbing her fingers through the child's hair.

"Scary." Dory answered, hiding her face in the woman's legs.

"Uh-huh." Cas agreed, doing the same.

"There's nothing to be scared of." Hannah assured them, "It's not real. It can't hurt you."

Dean and Scarlet, however, had come up with their own solution, taking two pieces from the bucket.

"Hey, kiddos, only take one, please." A purple-stressed woman in the trunk told them.

"It's for my sister." Scarlet explained, pointing to their parents and siblings, "And his brother."

"Oh." The woman responded, realizing what was going on, "Okay, then."

The three came back, Dean and Scarlet plopping little flavored tootsie rolls into their buckets. Dory looked up at Scarlet while Cas hugged Dean. "Thank you bwother."

Dory then wrapped her arms around Scarlet's waist. "Fank you."

This around Rawls was bit more prepared, his van draped with teal streamers, and teal pumpkin on the side. "I went allergy free this year." He explained, presenting the kids with a teal pumpkin filled with little Halloween themed toys, black balls of putty, witches' fingers finger puppets, pumpkin splat balls, starchy skeletons, little bendy toys that looked like unicorns' skeletons, and pumpkins with crosses on them filled with putty.

The kids dug into the offered toys.

"You really got a thing for skeletons, don't you, honey?" Rawls noted as Scarlet picked up a skeleton unicorn.

"I'm spooky, Uncle Benny!" Scarlet declared, spinning around.

Rawls chuckled, giving his little niece a rub on the head.

Half the adults had no clue what the car at the end of the first row was supposed to be. The other half wondered how the theme was even allowed.

In front of them were four girls dressed in dressed in 1980s skirt and blazer sets, one to the side in blue, one in red flanked by girls in green and yellow.

"What is that even supposed to be?" Hannah whispered.

Elsbeth had an idea. "Let me guess," She pointed to each girl in turn, "Veronica Sawyer, Heather Chandler, Heather Duke, and Heather McNamara."

"Heather Chandler" nodded, before "Heather McNamara" leaned down a bowl tomorrow. "Come on, kids. Step into my candy store."

"If they start singing, we run." Elsbeth whispered over to Sam.

"Why would they be singing?" Sam whispered back, familiar with the movie, but not the musical.

As the other kids got their candy, Maudie keep staring at "Heather Chandler." Eventually "Heather" asked, "What is it, honey?" (In real life the girl was far from a mythic bitch and was exceptionally found of children.)

"I-I really like your hair thingy." Maudie got out.

"Heather" took the red scrunchie out of her hair. "What, you mean this?"

Smiling Maudie nodded.

"Here." "Heather" said, leaning crouching down, "Mind if I touch your braid?"

Maudie shook her head and the Heather ran the scrunchie up Maudie's braid wrapping it around the end of it. "Smell how gansta you are."

Realizing what happened, Reason began, "Ma'am, we can't possibly—"

"It's alright." The Heather assured her, pulling another crunchie from her blazer and tying her hair with it, "I kept a backup."

That was when Maudie realized something else. "I look different from the other Elsas!"

"Yeah, you are!" Reason declared, before she was pulled away as Maudie ran to show Sam.

As they walked through the rows, the children started to get playful.

"Garrh!" Cas growled, marching towards the girls, "Arrg!"

They girls began to shriek, giggling as well, so it wasn't very convincing.

"I'll save you!" Dean declared, poking at Cas. As the pair "fought" they stepped in front of another group of trick er treaters. Fortunately Sam was able to get them out of the way before disaster struck.

"Alight Don Quixote." Sam began, "Why don't we cool it for a bit?"

Lyla and Phil hand also gone the allegery free route. The inside was decorated with orange pom pom decorations and blue pom pom decorations, draped with a teal plastic table cloths and big teal cardboard pumpkin cut out that declared: WE ARE ALGERY FREE! Apparently, Phillip had, had some free time, because the buckets were filled with little animals.

Dressed in a Cinderella costume, Lyla took a bucket and handed it to Hope who was dressed as a little mouse, who managed to uncoordinatedly hold it out for the older youngsters. Dean immediately lept on an origami t-rex then seeing a dragon and wanting to show it to Cas, pulled it out, "It's a dragon like you! "

"Cool!" Cas noted, but then she saw something he liked better. A genie au pig. He picked it up and Dean began to put the dragon back. As Dean sat the dragon back, Dory reached for it. He handed it to her and he put it in her bucket.

As she watched the scene, Hannah suddenly felt woozy. She began to sway, starting to try to steady herself. This couldn't be happening now! She hadn't been woozy since they returned from Heaven! She'd only been throwing up.

Noticing his wife's distress, he asked, concerned, "Hannah, are you alright?"

"Yeah," Hannah lied, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Sam questioned, catching her.

That was when Phil came into view in a Prince Charming costume. "Somebody need a doctor out here?"

 _I sure hope not._ Hannah thought, considering what Phil's specialty was. "Really, I'm fine. I just might—need to sit down a moment.

"Take Maudie, I'll stay with her." Reason volunteered.

"No, I should—" Sam began.

"Sam," Reason began thrusting the hardness end at him, "Trust me." Then she guided Hannah over to the trunk, "Mind if I set her down there?"

"N-No." Lyla assured them, "G-Go ahead."

"I still think I should—" Sam began.

"Sam, please, just _go."_ Hannah pleaded; afraid her cover might be blown.

Sam gave in. "Alright, but only if you're sure."

"I'm sure." Hannah insisted.

"Is Mommy gonna be okay?" Dean asked as they walked away.

As they sat down, Reason whispered, "Hannah, I know this isn't the best place, but I have to ask… _do_ you need Phil? Like specifically?"

"What are you talking about?" Hannah asked.

"Hannah—" Reason began before lowering her voice even more, "I figured what you were doing in the bathroom yesterday when I brought Maudie over, and, I've ah—" She put her hands on the part of the abdomen where she had once carried a child. "I know the signs. So, are you?"

Hannah was silent for a long moment. "I don't know. But I think I might be."

"Here you go, kiddos." Beetlejuice told the children, handing them handfuls of candy.

"Thank you!" The kids shouted, excited by the sheer amount.

That was Hannah and Reason rejoined the group. "We're all better now." The ex-witch said her arm thrown over the angel.

Before anyone could question anything, the boys ran up to her. "Mommy, look how much candy we gotted!"

"I, see, oh that's amazing." Hannah smiled, her eyes widening.

Shortly after that, the group finished and split up for the night. Sam and Hannah got the kids to bed and repeated the ritual of checking the candle for tampering. "This is clean." Sam noted on piece of dark chocolate holding it out for Hannah, "You want to sneak a piece.?

Hannah fought the vile back into her throat. "No, thank you."

Sam lowered the bar, looking concerned. "You don't want chocolate? Alright, Hannah, what's been going on you lately. You've been cagey, you've gotten sick a couple of times, and now you don't want your favorite food? Hannah, I know you said you were still recovering from what you did for Cas but—you're seriously starting to worry me here. I think—I think we might need to find a doctor for you to go to. There's this guy who stitches up hunters under the table, I don't know how much he knows magically speaking, but—

Hannah lowered her eyes. "You don't need to do that. There's something I need to tell you."

That was how Sam wound up sitting beside his wife on the floor beside the bathroom where the pregnancy test was now on the sink as they waited for the results to arrive. "I'm so sorry." Hannah told him.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Sam assured her, "I wouldn't have known what to do if it was me. I get it."

"Not that." Hannah told him, "Well, that, too, but also—"

"Hannah, it takes two people to make a baby." Sam pointed out, "And if we somehow had the biggest birth control fail ever—we'll figure it out. At least we don't have to pay rent and utilities so, that's a little less expense, probably, and it's not like we had an only child." After a beat he added, "Admittedly if that test says yes, they'll outnumber us— "

"It's not that." Hannah cut him off, "Sam, Nephilim are forbidden by the oldest laws of Heaven. If they're discovered its death for both it and the angel that sired it. And the mothers—" She ran her fingers through her hair, "Well, let's deal with that if the test is positive." Realizing it was about time she said, "And speaking of with—" She got off and went into the bathroom.

Sam waited with baited breath, but nothing happened. "Hannah?" He called out finally, "Hannah, what does it say?"

Hannah came out, still holding the test, her face saying it all. "Sam, I-I'm pregnant."


	73. Unexpected Help

**AN: Again, I'm really sorry.**

Sam ran his heads through his hair, his eyes swimming. They had both been up all night, trying to find a solution to their current problem, so he was running on no sleep, and he was still quite possibility processing everything he had just learned.

Hannah, his wife, who was on the pill and had just got her vessel's IUD renewed, and was, oh, yeah, an angel, was carrying their baby. Hannah, his wife who was on the pill and just got her vessel's IUD renewed was carrying their baby, that was, as a result of her angelic status, a human-angel hybrid that was banned by Heaven on pain of death for both child and angelic parent, officially because there's a defin-sh chance it could accidently blow up the world when it hit puberty. Hannah, his wife who was on the pill and just got her vessel's IUD renewed was carrying their baby that was human angel hybrid banned by Heaven because of the very defin-sh chance it could accidently blow up the world when it hit puberty, and these types of pregnancy were always lethal to the mother.

Sam shook his head, just going through it all on a loop when it hit him. Something that could solve all their problems.

Just then Hannah came over with a cup of coffee. "I thought you could use this." She said, sitting this down.

"Thanks." Sam responded, turning to look at her, "Hannah, I-I think I might have figured something out. You remember what I told you happen with me and Gadreel?"

"You mean how he hid out in you, then went on a joyride, killing the last prophet and several angels and Crowley had to possess you to get him out?" Hannah recapped.

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Sam admitted, "But after there was this spell me and were working on to find him, that needed the grace he left in me, we used the same needle I used on you. The tracking spell was a bust, but the extraction ritual worked, and it worked again on you when you donated grace to Cas. So, what if we use it on—" His voice trailed off, then he raised his hand up to Hannah's stomach, "Unnamed baby Winchester. I mean, a-a Nephilim's just a human soul with angelic grace, right? So, you remove the grace—"

"The baby would just be a baby." Hannah caught on.

"The baby would be just a baby." Sam confirmed, "That way, you wouldn't have to-" His voice tripped up at the very thought, "Have to die, the baby would be fine, and if any of your family comes sniffling around we'll just—say I found on it on hunt, and the parents died, or it was in dumpster, and we took it in, so our cover's not completely blown."

Hannah felt a tremor of hope go through her. "How soon can it be done?"

Just then there was knock on the door at the exact same time the phone rang. "Alright, I'll get the phone, you good to get the door. You know, in your condition?"

"I'm pregnant Sam, not an invalid." Hannah responded, already heading for the stairs.

As she walked up the stairs, the word echoed in her head. _Pregnant._ She was pregnant. As in with child. As in there was tiny little being growing inside her. She didn't even remember opening the door, but when she did, what she saw shook her out of her stupor.

"Tabbris?" Hannah asked, staring at the angel and human woman with him, an older woman with long graying chestnut hair. "How did you find us?" Then it hit her. "Is that—"

"Hannah, this is my ex, Abigail." Tabbris cut her off, but confirming her suspicion, "Gail, this is Hannah, the angel I told you about." Abigail said nothing, but gave Hannah a smile, slightly forced smile. "As for how I found you—it wasn't easy. I couldn't get a trace of you anywhere, I realize you must be somewhere even we couldn't sense, so, that narrowed it down, and I knew you were in the constitutional US , and then a physic directed me to the middle of Kansas, and then I saw the giant mysterious bunker on the side of the road—I took a chance. I didn't like how we left things, especially if what I thought is true." After a beat he asked, "Do you know?"

Hannah was silent a moment. "You were right." She finally admitted, "I took the test the last night. "She took a step back. "You should come in."

Meanwhile, Sam answered his phone, "Look, Tova, this isn't the best time—"

"That's what I was worried about." Tova cut him off, "There's someone I need you to meet. Someone I've been meaning for you to meet for a couple of weeks now. A couple someones, actually. Then one of my physic connections in Europe told me someone I've meaning to content was having a family problem. Are, ah, are Hannah and the kids okay?"

"The kids are, but Hannah—" Sam began. He rubbed his temples deciding to come out with it. "She's pregnant, Tova. And, ah, these types of pregnancies don't end well."

A few minutes later, Sam came back in the room to find Tabbris and woman he'd never seen before on side of a table and Hannah on the other, her face fallen. "Hannah?" He asked, "What's going on here?"

"Sam, you remember Tabbris." Hannah began, "And this is his ex, Abigail."

"Ex?" Sam repeated, "As in—"

"As in the mother of the last Nephilim." Abigail cut him off, "He came to get me after he found out about you and her and your 'blessed event'. My condolences by the way."

"Sam, I told them about your idea, and—and they say it won't work." Hannah explained, "Not if we want the child live past a few days, or even make it to term."

"Nephilim are an unnatural presence by their very nature." Tabbris explained, "It's delicate. Its grace is what holds it in balance. You remove that this child's being will fall into chaos; its cells will eat each other until it dies. Plus, in this case, you could very remove Hannah's grace by accident and end up with the very result you were trying to avoid."

Sam ran his finger through his hair in frustration. "Where there has to be some way to save her? I mean," He gesture to Abigail, "You managed to survive."

"No, I didn't." Abigail told him flatly.

"I resurrected Abigail after the birth." Tabbris explained, "It's a—tactic used by a few of the angels who got themselves in this situation who cared enough about their partners to stick around."

"Apparently not all were so fortunate." Abigail added, stone faced.

"But—angels can't resurrect other angels." Hannah pointed out, "It's been tried. We can heal each other, but after the point of death—"

"I'm not sure it will come to that, with you." Tabbris told her, "The reasons the mothers always die is a combination of the stain on the body carrying such a creature causes, some draining of lifeforce and internal injuries accidently caused by the Nephilim during labor. It doesn't mean too, of course, but it can come out so fast and it's strong. But this time, the mother's the angel. You're a bit sturdier, Hannah. It you can hold on, just long enough for me to heal you—"

"I wouldn't have to die." Hannah finished for them.

"Not unless the rest of mile high club find out." Abigail snarked.

"Gail, please." Tabbris whispered, "We agreed—"

"I know," Abigail cut him off, waving her hand, "I know, I know, but—they need to know what they're getting into."  
"Don't worry." Sam spoke up, "We know. And we, tried to avoid, this, but— "

"No." Abigail cut him off, "No, you think you do, but you don't. I thought I knew the worst of it, the dying, the threat that my child and her father could be killed, but—I didn't count on having to watch my daughter endure a lonely a childhood, I didn't count on the situation destroying my relationship with her father, I didn't count on worrying about her living in isolation, I didn't—" Her voice trailed off for a minute, "I didn't count on having to burry my baby."

As the woman started to come undone, Hannah reached across the table to her, only for her to pull away. Just then there was a knock on the door at the same time the boys called out, "Mommy? Daddy?"

"I'll get them, you get the door." Hannah said, standing up, then looking to their unexpected guest, "Will you be alright here?"

"I don't see we have much of a choice." Tabbris answered, before waving her away with her hand, "Go. I'll work on clamming Abigail down."

Sam walked to the door opening, revealing Tova, holding a lab top standing next to a girl he had never seen before with long dark hair.

"Sam this, Eileen Leahy, a college of mine from Ireland." She then turned to Eileen and began writing with her finger, "Eileen, this is Sam Winchester, the hunter I told you about."

It took a minute for Sam to process. "She's –"

"Deaf." Eileen cut him off, "I can read lips."

"Sorry." Sam said, trying to recall what little sign language he could remember. "Nice to meet you."

"You, too." Eileen told him, back, signing.

"But she's not the only one I want you to meet." Tova told her, holding up her lab top.

Once Tova got the lab top set up, she put it on video call, revealing a somewhat sleepy looking woman with light olive skin and long light brown hair, cup of something steaming in front of her.

"Sam this is Annamaria." Tova introduced, "Last of the Italian Men of Letters." Then, Tova wrote something down on a piece of paper and held it up for Annamaria to see.

Annamaria quickly wrote on a yellow notepad by her up, and held it up. _Nice to meet to you. I heard good things from Tova._

"Sorry, I didn't make the connection until I was in an Italy for a case about a week or so ago and reached out to her." Tova explained, "Then at a stopover in Ireland and me and Eileen got to talking and we realized there might be something there, too."

Sam balked in surprised. "So, you're—you're both legacies. Both Women of Letters."

"Not exactly." Eileen answered, "My Mom's father was part of it, but it was defunct by time she grew up. She knew some spells apparently, she—she tried to do one the night she and my dad died."

"I'm sorry." Sam responded.

"Thanks." Eileen responded, then changed the subject, "There's, ah, some information of the spell in the journal of the hunter who took me in after, but, um, Annamaria's probably going to be of more help for your—situation."

"Annamaria's the only one left on her end of things, but she also has everything." Tova told him, "I hope you don't mind; I took the liberty of explaining some of the situation."

Annamaria wrote quickly then held up her notepad. _Your wife, is, um, she here?_

Hannah was in the kitchen, leaned up against the stove as she watched her kids eat, blissfully unaware that there's lives were about to change again. Hopefully not for the worst. She wasn't ready to leave them yet. She _couldn't_ leave their yet. They were too young, and with what happened to Dean the first time…

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Dean spoke up, pulling her from her stupor.

That was when Hannah realized tears were welling up in her eyes. "No reason, little one." She lied, whipping them away. They couldn't know. Not yet.

Suddenly she felt arms around her legs.

She looked down and saw Dean wrapping his arms around her, much like on that first day so long ago, with Cas now clinging to the other side.

"It's okay, Mommy." Dean assured her, "We love you."

Hannah wrapped an arm around each child. "I love you, too, little ones." Hannah told them, "So very, very much."

Sam walked back in. "Is, ah, everything okay in here?"

"Mommy was said. "Dean told him.

"I'm sorry." Hannah said, pulling herself together.

Sam nodded. "Hannah, there's something you might want to see."

When they came in, Tabbris and Abigail were talking with the Israeli and Irish hunters and their Italian Woman of Letters.

"So, she taught herself how to read and write English from files that were sent over from this place, "Abigail was saying, gesturing around them, "But she can't actually speak English?"

"There are English speakers in her town but unless they're hunters she doesn't really have any accusation with them." Tova explained, "When we meet up, we either exchange notes or speak in Latin. She's really good at Latin. "

That when Sam and Hannah entered the room.

"Annamaria, questa è Hannah, la moglie di Sam." Tabbris told her, "L'angelo che è incinta."

"Saultare." Annamaria greeted her.

"Saultare." Hannah replied, "Sam dice a i miei che sei un retaggio, come lui?"

"What are they saying?" Tova whispered over to Tabbris.

"Basically, a recapped of everything we just talked about." Tabbris summarized.

"Si." Annamaria was saying, "Non abbiamo la massa che gli americani hanno fatto, ma abbiamo avuto un sacco di angeli e nefilim, stranamente, forse perché alcuni credono che i primi angeli a nudo bambini sono stati imprigionati da qualche parte sotto quello che sarebbe diventato l'Italia, non sono sicuro."

"Now she's saying that while they don't have the amount that the Americans did, they had a lot on angels and Nephilim, possibly because it's believed that the angels that first sired half-angel children were imprisoned beneath what would become Italy."

"Is that true?" Eileen spoke up.

"How should I know?" Tabbris responded, "The last time we had notable population of angel human hybrids Dad had Noah build an Ark. The Flood affected typography a little."

Annamaria continued. "Perché è passato un po'da quando un Nephilim è nato in realtà abbiamo un mucchio di teorie e non un sacco di fatto, ma è stato teorizzato che se si rimuove il bambino dal grembo materno via sezione cesareo, sia la madre che il bambino potrebbe sorprendere il parto."

Tabbris was stunned into silence. "Oh, my Dad, that could work."

"What?" Sam asked, "Why should work?"

"A c-section." Hannah spoke up, "The Italian Men of Letters theorized that the mother could survive if the child was delivered by caesarian section."

"As in—as in cutting her open?" Sam asked.

"It might be your only chance." Tabbris told him.

"W gallina è il bambino a causa?" Annamaria asked.

"She wants to know when the baby is due." Hannah translated.

"Well, I'm assuming it was conceived after the Caulida Wendell incident, in that was in late October, and Cestial pregnancy progress faster, so unless the angel being the one pregnant actually pregnant speeds thing up even more, you'd be due in March."

"Marzo." Hannah told her.

"Ok, quello che devi fare ora va bene un medico di cui ti fidi e devo consultarmi con loro." Annamaria told them, "Questo probabilmente sta andando a prendere un minuto, ma c'è qualcos'altro che posso fare per voi, in primo luogo."

"She says we need to find a doctor we trust and she needs to consult with them." Hannah translated, "But she says there's something else she can do for us first."

That was when Tova started pulling a series of strange fruits, vegetables, and flowers from a cooler. Purple orbs the size of grape fruits. Obsidian colored the berries. Red-skinned vegetables shaped like asparagus. Purple, yellow -spotted peonies the size of one of their toddlers' head. An apple, round and smooth like a ball, but a bright florescent blue. Sam picked that one up, studying it further.

"What your holding could very well be the same type of apple that got us all kicked out of Eden." Tova told him, "Thought if I were dumb enough to trade paradise for a piece of fruit, it'd be the berries."

Eileen picked up a berry and put in her mouth. It was sugary sweet, almost like bubble gum, but at the same time malty, with a hint of something like strawberry. She then grabbed serval more.

Tabbris stared. "These plants haven't existed, since—"

"The Flood." Annamaria cut him off, "Ai tempi trovammo un pezzo dell'Arca con un piccolo deposito, probabilmente meno di una frazione del tutto, ma siamo stati in grado di fare un giardino piuttosto impressionante."

"What are they saying?" Sam asked.

"The Italian Men of Letters found a piece of the Ark back in the day." Hannah reinstated, "It had small part of the pre-Deluge cache of seed. They—they got them to grow."

"Tova, puoi prendere qualche nota per me?" Annamaria continued.

"And now she wants Tova to take some notes." Hannah told him.

That was how Tova putting a pan on one burner a kettle on the other. In front of her were some of the whitest roses she'd ever seen, blue juice from the apple, something that looked like a green orange, and two sticks of cinnamon.

"Miss Tova, what's you doing?" Dean asked, looking up at the woman curiously.

"Something that hopefully will help Mommy." Sam spoke up from where he was standing, watching everything. "Hey, why don't we go into the other room for a while, okay?"

The boys got up and obediently went to their father, each taking him by the hand.

As they walked down the hall, they could hear Eileen calling out, "I really don't think you should be sulking around the place the like this, I mean, this is for all intents and purposes somebody's home too—"

"Look, I really just need to find Sam and talk to him." Abigail's voice called out, "Preferably alone."

They turned the corner as Eileen said, "Okay, I talking to someone you know is death while looking away from them is just rude—"

Their voices trailed off when they saw Sam, but Abigail went to sudden stop, looking like she had just been shot. She just—keep staring down.

That was when Sam realized she was staring at Cas.

"Hey, are you okay?" Eileen asked, walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"That's—" Abigail began, balking, "He— Tabbris told me, but-" She turned away, "I can't even look at him."

Letting go of Abigail, Eileen crouched down, eye level with the boys. "Hi, guys. My name is Eileen, and I'm going to take you to your Mom while your Dad and this nice lady talk, okay?"

Assuming that, since she was in their house that must mean she was alright, Dean let go of Sam's hand and went over to Eileen. Cas however, was weary of the stranger, clinging to his father.

"It's okay, buddy." Sam encouraged, "Go on."

Cas reluctantly walked off with Eileen. "Is that lady going to be okay?" He asked, not realizing Eileen couldn't hear him.

Sam was wondering the same thing as she ran up to Abigail. "Hey, hey, Abi, Abigail, just breathe okay? Just breathe."

Abigail took several deep breathes. "Sorry. Tabbris warned me, but I still wasn't prepared to see him."

Sam nodded. It was all he could think to do. They had meant this to be clean slate for both of them, and it was true Cas couldn't remember what he did, but at the same time, he couldn't really blame her for being unable to see the child. "You, ah, you had something you want to talk me about."

Abigail nodded. "This—this plain to save your angel—you can't go through with it."

Sam was taken aback. "What?"

"You need to either let her dye—or take your kids and run." Abigail said, desperately, "Maybe not the other angel, he'll be better off with his own kind."

It took a minute to process what she was saying, "I'm not—I'm not leaving my wife."

"Sam, I was like you once." Abigail told him, "I thought me and Tab and Jane were going to be a family and everything would work out, I was head over heal. It took me years to realize." Her voice got hushed, "They. Can't. Love. They don't know how. They have no empathy, no emotions. I mean, they can fake it, they can even fool themselves. Heave knows Tabbris did. Or Heaven doesn't know, maybe that's part of the problem. I'm sure right now Hannah thinks she loves those boys, that—that child inside her. But it's not real. And sooner or later, she's going to turn on you, she's going to ruin that boy, ruin that baby just like Tabbris—just like he ruined Jane."

Sam felt a thousand things at once. Anger, confusion, pity. "Abbigail, I think you need to go now." He said in an even tone.

When they walked back into the bunker Hannah and Eileen were sitting with the boys, Eileen signing something and the boys copying her movements.

"A little bit higher up, Dean." Eileen told him.

"Ah." Dean responded, sounding somewhat dejected.

"Hey, you'll get it." Eileen encouraged him, "You're already halfway there."

"Tabbris." Abigail called out, "I'm heading out. You—you don't really need me right now."

"Alright." Tabbris agreed, pretending he didn't realize something must have happened, also chocking it up a certain extent to Castiel's presence, "I'll meet you back at the motel."

Before she left Abigail handed something to Sam. "What to expect when you're expecting a hybrid. _CliffsNotes_ edition." She explained, "Sam, thank about what I said. I'll see myself out." And with that she marched up the stairs and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

All was silent for a moment. After checking to make sure the paper was what Abigail said it was, Sam handed it to Hannah, saying, "I'm—I'm going to make sure that the door's shut good." Then he ran off.

Hannah's eyes went up the stairs worried.

"Stay here." Eileen told her, getting up and following Sam.

Sam checked the door then just stood there for a moment trying to calm down, then he felt a tap on his shoulder. Startled, he just, turning around to find their new friend.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Eileen apologized, "Look, I know I just meant you and it's really none of my business, but you're kinda freaking out your wife which is probably not good for her, and her condition so—"

"Not here." Sam requested, "I don't want her to know."

And so, taking Eileen to a quiet spot, he explained what Abigail had told her.

"Where does she get off saying that you?!" Eileen balked, "You know that's BS, right? I saw her with those boys, she adores them."

"Yeah, I know, that's what—" Sam began, "That's what made me so mad."

"If you want my advice, you keep her at arm's length, nothing she knows is worth it." Eileen advised. After a beat she pulled something out of her jacket. "As long as we're here."

She handed Sam a little black and white sock monkey.

"I saw it at the gas station when Tova called you." Eileen explained, "Babies are supposed to be able to see black and white better."

"Really?" Sam responded. "Un, thanks." He made the sign, or at least he tried to.

"It's um…" Eileen began showing her the correct way. "Also, what you signed, maybe not do it in front of your kids."

Later, the remaining people gathered in the main room of the bunker as Tova came out with a glass bottle of translucent brown liquid. "Here we go." She said, pouring it into a tea spoon, "One super charged pre-natal vatimin."

"And you're sure this is safe?" Sam asked nervously.

"Sei sicuro che sia sicuro?" Hannah repeated in Italian.

Annamaria nodded.

Hannah took the spoon and put it in her mouth. The concoction tasted nutty and good, but slippery, like swallowing a frog. "Thank you so, much." Hannah told them all "Graci, Graci."

After a little more hashing things out, the group cleared out, leaving the family go on more or less as business as usual. Hannah was watching the boys play when came up and sat down beside her. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"No morning sickness." Hannah told her, "According to Abigail's note I should expect it on and off throughout the pregnancy."

"We'll look into getting you some pills to help." Sam assured her. "Have they, ah—"

"I told them I was sick and they were helping me feel better." Hannah told him, "Which technically is true. I –I don't want to tell them yet, just in case—"

"Yeah, yeah, defiantly." Sam agreed.

They were silent for a moment, then Hannah said, "Sam, I think—I think we can actually pull me this off."

Sam squeeze her hand. "Yeah, me too."


	74. Telling The Boys

**AN: I'm thinking of expanding my time frame from updates to some from time with Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, because this keeps happening. I'm really sorry.**

Sam opened the door, letting in Hannah, who was tugging at her blazer. In the corner, there was an elderly, sinewy man with a small beard, dressed in a doctor's coat, who began to approach them.

"Thank you for meet us halfway, Dr. Robert." Sam said. Yes, they had went to Dr. Robert. He was the only one they could scrape up.

"Oh, a specimen like this only comes along once in a lifetime." Dr. Robert told him, "And of course, of the compensation for my trouble we discussed over the phone."

"Right." Sam responded, pulling a brown envelope of money out of his jacket and handing it to the man.

Dr. Robert check the envelope and satisfied that he was paid the extra promise, set it aside. "I'm assuming this is her."

Hannah nodded apprehensively.

"No reason to be nervous, my dear." Dr. Robert assured her, "Everything is going to be fine. Now, would you mind lying down here? You might want to take off your jacket as well."

Hannah did as the doctor requested, taking her jacket off and laying down on the padded table. "Is this normal?"

Sam looked at Dr. Robert questioningly.

"We're doing an ultra sound." Dr. Robert told him, "It's normal to lie down. Eva, please bring the machine over."

A dark-haired woman with serval pricings pushed an ultra sound machine over to the table.

"I'm going to need you to pull up your shirt and lower your pants a little." Dr. Robert requested.

"What?" Hannah asked, uncertainly.

"It's alright." Sam assured her, "He just needs to rub this gel stuff on your stomach and rub a stick around to see – Unnamed Baby Winchester—we need to find something else to call it—it won't hurt you and it won't hurt the baby."

Hannah complied, revealing the smallest bump, hardly noticeable.

"This is going to feel a little cold." Dr. Robert warned, just before applying it.

A few moments later, they could see an image of a small mass on the screen.

They could see a heartbeat.

"Um, that's odd." Dr. Robert mused.

"What?" Hannah asked, alarmed, grabbing Sam's hand.

"Sam said on the phone you were, at most, three weeks along." Dr. Robert explained, "But—your neural tube is closed, organs are forming, I'm—I'm even seeing development of a head. The baby shouldn't be developing these for a least a few more weeks."

"Well, everything we found said the pregnancy would develop at a faster rate." Sam pointed out.

"True." Dr. Robert admitted, "And, expect for being that far along, everything seems to be progressing normally. Your baby is a okay."

"You hear that, honey?" Sam asked, his voice relieved, "A okay."

After picking up the boys the rest of the day went as usual, until dinner. They sat the boys in their boosters' seat as usual, sat down in began, dolling out beef and onion stew over noodles.

Dean, however, noticed something unusual. "Mommy, why'd you get so much?"

Hannah looked down at her plate. It was a reasonable portion for a normal portion, but more than she usually took. She had been told she would need to start eating now, for the baby. "I'm just—really hungry tonight." She covered which was somewhat true. The boys seem to accept that answer and went to their own meals.

Two days later, it appeared the children hadn't got over their 'rescue the damsel' phase, as Sam came home from work to Hannah on the floor with her hands lashed in front of her. "Hannah," He began slowly, "Did you let our children actually bind you?"

"It's Maudie's scrunchie." Hannah explained casually, holding up her wrist, "It's not cutting off my circulation, I could free myself at any time, and before you go to the worst case sanerio, this does not mean any of them are going to have bondage fetishes when they grow up."

"Still, I don't think you should be on the floor in your condition." Sam responded.

"Which they don't know about yet." Hannah reminded, "Here, I'll take care of it." She then put her face and her hands and began fake sobbing.

Sam stared at her incredulously, trying to figure out what he was witness, when Cas with his toilet paper tin foil sword and bandanna loosely wrapped on his head, asking, "What's wrong, pretty lady?"

"I'm so frightened." Hannah lamented, laying it on thick, not looking from her hand, "Please don't hurt me."

Cas looked remorseful. "Ah, it's okay, you can go." Cas assured her, taking the sword, and actually managing to flick off the scrunchie."

"Thank you." Hannah said, overjoyed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The she got up and ran off, Cas going back to fight Dean and Maudie.

Sam looked both ways, before following Hannah. "What was that all about?"

"Let's just say we don't have to worry about the boys actually kidnapping anymore." Hannah told them, "Or at least we don't have to worry about Cas. He's too much of a soft touch. They start taking too long, I just pull that."

"Uh." Sam responded, "I'll have to remember that." He too wound up in the role of prisoner/ sacrifice/ person in need of rescue from something or another. After a beat he realized, "Wait, were they rescuing you, or the ones you needed rescuing from?"

"I don't even think they know." Hannah admitted, glancing over to the children, "Pirates gets kind of murky."

The next morning, Hannah stood in front of the mirror, looking at how the crisp fabric of her light brown undershirt stretched over her slightly swollen stomach, and how she thought her hips got bigger.

"Sam will never touch me again." She muttered, somewhat depressed.

That was the note Sam woke up to. He crept up behind her, and put his arm around her. "I wouldn't be so sure about that." He told her kissing her neck, "You look gorgeous."

Hannah just kept staring in the mirror, an almost perplexed look on her face. "I think the boys are going to figure out something's different soon."

Sam looked at his wife appraisingly. "With your layered look, I think we bought us at least to the end of the month."

"Sam, I'm serious." She told him.

"So am I." Sam responded.

"How do we tell them?" Hannah asked, " _What_ do we tell them? They're too young for—"

"Honey, honey, slow down." Sam soothed, "How 'bout this? We'll tell them that you're growing a baby in your tummy because it's too little to come out, which is true. If they ask for more details—" Sam had to think a minute, "Why don't we say that when a mommy and daddy love each other very much, they give each other a special cuddle that makes a baby. "

Hannah had one concern about this. "What if we make them afraid that we'll get them pregnant by hugging them?"

"That's why it's a 'special' cuddle." Sam explained.

Hannah thought on that for a moment. "I think that could work."

Later that day after making a few deliveries and switching with Sam, Hannah was at Rawls' table while the boys and Maudie, and the girls were playing in the guestroom. "You want any coffee?" Elsbeth offered.

"No thank you." Hannah responded. The doctor had said at this stage she could have caffeine in moderation but she didn't want to take a chance. After seeing the clock, she asked, "But, um, could I get some water, I just realized I have medicine I need take."

"Sure." Elsbeth said, handing getting a glass from cabinet, filling it with water, and handing it to her. Hannah took the pill bottle from her jacket and realized she recognized the label. "Hannah, are you pregnant?"

Hannah, froze, the pill halfway up to her mouth. "Why would ask that?"

"Because those are the same morning sickness, I took through both pregnancies." Elsbeth answered.

Hannah gave in. "We're not really telling anyone yet. Reason knows because she guessed it, and maybe a few other people, but we were waiting until I was further along, in case…well, you know." For some reason she couldn't make the world, _miscarriage_ come out of her mouth, as if saying it was an invitation for it to happen. "We haven't even told the twins yet."

Elsbeth nodded her understanding as Hannah took the pill. "Well, don't worry, my lips are sealed." She assured her.

"Thanks." Hannah replied. After a moment, she asked, "Um, as long as it's out there how did prepare Vanessa for Scarlet coming? I—I just don't how we're going to tell the boys. I mean, we sort of decided _what_ we were going to tell them this morning, but we still haven't decided on _how._ "

"Well, when we sat her down, I made use to use the word, "we" when I said we were having a baby." Elsbeth began, "Like this was the family baby. I also explained that they were a lot of work, so when it got here, Mommy, might be tired. Also, involve them in the process, take them to the sonograms, let them talk to the baby through your tummy. Nessa use to sing to Scarlet, as much as a one-two year old could. Usually it was just the refrain to 'Dark of the Sun' over and over again. Then when Scarlet was born Benny brought this toy Vanessa had been wanting to hospital, said if from Scarlet. "After a beat, Elsbeth added," I didn't do this with Vanessa the first time, but a friend also told me that during the first trimester, to find a family with multiple kids and—discuss them with the kid. I did when…Dory happened, except I used a blended family."

Hannah nodded. "Would it be okay if I use you. You're the only people we know with multiple children. Well, Serena Joy has siblings, but—"

"Sure." Elsbeth agreed, "And one more thing, but it's an important: Make sure they understand that this doesn't mean you love them any less. Love doesn't divide, it just grows."

"So, boys, did you have fun today?" Hannah asked that evening after Reason had picked up Maudie.

Both boys looked up from their coloring. "Uh-huh." Dean answered, both he and Cas nodded.

Hannah paused a moment, trying to think of what to say. This was harder than Elsbeth made it sound. Maybe that's why she didn't do it the first time around. "Boys, what do you think about there being three girls?"

Both boys got perplexed looks on their faces. Which, considering there were three, they might be.

Hannah decided to try a different question. "How would you feel if you had another sibling?"

"What's a sibling?" Cas pipped up.

"Like a brother, or sister." Hannah elaborated.

The boys looked at each other. "We already got one of those." Dean told her, "I got Cas and Cas' got mean."

"Well, how you would you feel about having another one." Hannah asked, "One you could share?"

The boys though long and hard on that one. "I'se don't know." Dean admitted.

"I'se don't know either." Cas agreed.

That night Sam was awoken by clanging in the kitchen. Rolling over he also saw Hannah was gone. He thought the two events might be connected, but just in case he put his gun in his back pocket as he got out of the bed.

The first thing Sam saw as he crept down the hall was a faint light. He got closer and saw his wife, bent over in the crisper drawer of the fridge.

"Hannah?" Sam asked, still somewhat asleep and confused, "What are you doing?"

Hannah raised up, holding the kale-watercress salad blend Sam had got on sale. "I think the cravings have started. I just— suddenly really wanted greens." After a beat she asked, "You don't mind me—maybe devouring this whole bag, would you?"

"Getting the kids to actually eat it was probably a pipe dream anyway." Sam responded, "Is it—is it good enough, though? You don't need me to make a run anywhere?"

"No." Hannah replied, going back to her midnight feast, "I'm good."

The boys could care less about their Mommy's sudden desire for greens, or liver or that she started eating nondairy creamer with a spoon—she had never even put it in her coffee before—but they were more than bit petruded about her newfound fondness for their chocolate pudding. To Dean it seemed that she ate it by the bucketful and it also seemed unfair. Neither he nor his brother ever got extra pudding even when it was their favorite. Cas felt like maybe she would stop getting sick if she stopped eating so much pudding.

A few days after the night time ruffage raid, Sam was at the table, looking up something for Charlie when he glanced up and happened to see the ceiling fan over the table. It wasn't a big shock, the bunker had always had them, but now Sam couldn't stop staring at them.

Because he had just realized that they were going to have baby that could very possibly fly. And they had a toddler whose flight feathers could grow in at any time now, then he would start flying. And they had sharp rotating death traps on the ceiling just waiting for a little baby angel and/or Nephilim to slice and dice….

Sam was recused from his ruminations by a pulling on his pants leg and little voice saying, "Daddy…"

He looked down to see Cas peering up at him.

"Mommy's frowing up again." Cas told him.

Hannah was in bathroom, holding back her hair and she vomited everything she had recently ate into the toilet whole Dean, thinking he was helping, rubbed circles on her back.

"Dean, I really need you to…" Hannah began, before upchucking again.

By them Sam had arrived. "It's okay, bud, I got this." He told Dean, shooing him away and taking over.

The boys still watched from the doorway. "Mommy, you need to stop eating so much pudding." Cas told her innocently, "I think it's making you sick."

Hannah and Sam exchanged looks. Even though she was sick, Hannah smiled, slightly amused. So did Sam. "Thanks for the tip, bud."

"We'll take that under advisement." Hannah told him.

Cas raised an eye brow, not knowing what meant.

"She means we'll think about it." Sam told him.

The next day when Sam got back from work, he was greeted with Hannah running up to the foot of the stairway. "Oh, thank Father." She breathed.

"What's happened?" Sam asked, worried.

"Nothing, I just…require you." Hannah explained.

"What do you need?" Sam asked, hurrying down the stairs.

"You." Hannah answered, "Need you in…"

By that point Sam realized what we're going on. Hannah's hormones were affecting her desire. "What about the boys?" He asked, coming to her and beginning to kiss her.

"They're asleep." Hannah moaned, "Come on."

While they're parents were…indisposed Cas woke up early from his nap, feeling thirsty. Sliding out of bed, he walked out of his room, and began calling out, "Mommy? Mommy, I'se need you."

That was when heard Mommy down the hall, "Oh, Sam. Oh, Sam, like that."

"I'm not hurting you, am I?" His Dad asked.

"Did you hear what I just said?" His Mom responded.

Thankfully they were covered with blankets when Cas walked into their room, so he didn't see anything, but Sam got a good startle when he felt a little hand grabbing his big toe.

Sam yelped and shot up in the bed, along with Hannah, and found Cas staring up at them with his big blue peepers. "What's you doing?"

The parents exchanged panicked looks. "Oh, Mommy and Daddy were just—wrestling while you guys were sleeping."

"Yeah." Hannah agreed, nodding.

"You need to be careful." Cas advised, "You could've hurt Mommy."

"Don't worry, little one." Hannah assured him, "Daddy was very, very careful." She pushed her hair out of her eyes, "Um, did you see—need something?"

"I thirsty." Cas explained.

"Alright," Hannah said, as she and Sam began to redress as well as they could beneath the sheets, "Let's go get you that water, then."

In spite of their efforts to cover their nakedness, Cas got a flash of Hannah's stomach. While the bump was not visible yet when covered with clothing, it was visible when uncovered.

"Mommy, you got a knot!" Cas cried out, thinking his mother had been hurt while they were wrestling and therefore became distressed.

"No, no, little one, it's a not a knot." Hannah assured his, getting out of the bed, coming over and putting a little hand on her stomach, "I'm not hurt, see?"

Cas was quiet for a moment. "Then what is it?"

"Me and Daddy will tell you later." Hannah promised, "When we can tell both you and Dean. Until then, let's go see about that water, huh?"

They next day, they sat the boys down at the kitchen table with cups of chocolate pudding. "Little ones," Hannah began, "Daddy and I have been something very important to tell you?"

"You know how Mommy has been getting sick lately?" Sam asked, "And getting really hungry?"

The boys nodded, extremely focused on the conversation now so that they could learn what was wrong with Mommy and find a way to fix it.

"Well, that's because we're going to have a baby." Hannah answered.

Both boys looked baffled. "A what?" Dean asked.

"You've seen babies when we grow grocery shopping, right?" Sam asked, "You've seen them in people's carts? Little bald things smaller than you guys?"

The boys nodded again.

"Well," Hannah began, "Mommy's growing one in her tummy. That's why she has a bump and why she's eating. To help the baby grow. You're going to get a little brother or sister."

"How'd it get in there?" Dean asked.

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks. "Well, when a Mommy and Daddy love each other very much, the Daddy gives the Mommy a special cuddle—not like the kind Mommy and Daddy give you, this is a very special type of cuddle—and that starts a baby growing in the Mommy's tummy."

The boys looked confused for a minute, but then seemed to accept it. "How long does he have to stay there?" Dean questioned.

"Who stay where?" Sam asked.

"Our baby brother!" Dean elaborated.

"Well, Dean, it might be a baby sister." Hannah told him, "But, he or she should be ready to come out about March."

"How's he gonna get out?" Cas asked, also latching to the idea that it would be a baby brother.

Sam and Hannah exchanged looks again, as they hadn't prepared for that. "Well, some very nice doctors are going to help with that."

The boys seemed to accept that.

Hannah walked over to them and plucked Dean out of his chair, sitting him in her lap and pulling Castiel close to her as well. "And we need you to know, that this doesn't mean it we love you any less than we do right now. Love don't divide, it just grows."

Cas nuzzled his mother's side. "I love you Mommy."

"I love you both, little ones." Hannah told him.

Dean put a hand where Hannah's bump happened to be. "I love you, Mommy." He declared, "I love you baby brother."

Sam and Hannah smirked. They'd help them get use to the idea of a baby sister if it came to it. "And I love all four of you guys." Sam told them.

The next week, they had another doctor's appointment. "Hey, Dr. Robert." Sam greened, him, with two toddlers in standing by him. "I hope you don't mind me—brought a couple of guests."

Dr. Robert smiled. "Not when they're this cute."

Hannah laid down on the table and the process went pretty much the same as before, with Dr. Robert rubbing the gel on her belly.

"We gonna see the baby now?" Dean asked excitedly.

"Yes, we are little one." Hannah confirmed, one eye on her boys the other on the ultrasound screen.

"Can we see?!" Dean requested, jumping up and down, "Can we see?!"

"Give Dr. Robert a second so he can find the baby." Sam told Dean picking his up and suddenly wishing he had two sets of arms. One for each kid, not counting the one currently cooking.

"The baby is lost." Cas spoke up, dismayed, "Oh no!"

"No, no, not lost." Dr. Robert assured him, "Sometimes the baby just hides. All I gotta do is find 'em." Dr. Robert moved the transducer around on Hannah's stomach until he found something that was looking a little less like a sea monkey. There we go. Looks like we got something that looks like a head, and we got arms, feet, fingers, toes, even ears forming here."

"Does that he can hear us now?" Cas asked.

Dean didn't wait for a response, calling out, "Hey, baby, I'm your bwother!" He pointed to Cas, "And this is your other bwother!"


	75. Fun With Leaves

Sam got the last of the leave into a pile, leaning the rake against the side of the tree, going over to the Impala and pulling out a black trash bag, going back over to the pile to scoop it up.

In addition to his job at the kennel and the farm work, Sam had nice little side biasness in yard work going. Basic stuff, mowing lawns, picking up any trash he found, and, especially now that fall was here, raking leaves that fell from trees.

After finishing the yards. Sam dropped by the bunker to check on Hannah and the boys. "Hey." He said, coming in.

"Daddy!" Both boys squealed, running up to him.

Sam picked them up, giving each a kiss on the forehead. "How are my boys?"

"Good." Dean told him in Cas nodded in agreement.

Sam set them down and walked over to Hannah. "And my favorite girl and our little turkey?" Then he planted one on her.

"I managed to make it through the morning without vomiting." Hannah told him, "Not sure how I feel about nicknaming our baby after a bird eaten at special occasions. But the turkey doesn't seem to be having any problems either. And what about you? How was work?"

"Same old, same old." Sam answered, "I just need to burn the leaf bags."

"Aw!" Both boys moaned, as they realized that meant Sam had to leave again. Dean ran over and latched on to Sam's leg. "No, Daddy, don't go!"

"Guys, I'll be back soon." Sam tried to assure them, but then Cas caught on and wrapped himself around Sam's other leg. "Oaky, now we're doing that." Then he got an idea. "Hey, why don't you guys come with Daddy and help him burn the leaves?

The boys looked up at him excited. "We can help?" Cas asked.

Sam looked to Hannah for permission. "I swear, I'll take care of anything dangerous, I'll keep them far, far, away from the fire, they'll really just be pushing bags around. "

Hannah paused for a minute. It wasn't like the boys didn't 'help' her sometimes, usually taking things out of boxes but…Sam worked with machines with blades, and hoes and rakes, and other dangerous things .

"Please Mommy?!" Cas begged, staring up at her with big, blue eyes.

"Please, please, please, please?!" Dean pleaded, giving her wide green eyes.

Hannah gave in. "Alright, _but_ you have to do exactly what Daddy tells you."

"Yes." Cas agreed.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Dean agreed eagerly.

And so, Sam loaded the kids up in the car and took them to the spot where he liked to dispose of leaves and trash. "Okay, guys." He began, opening the trunk, and removing the shovel, "First thing we need to do is build a burn bit, so you're going to stay here while Daddy set that's up."

The boys watched as Sam digged a medium size whole, deep, but not too deep that he couldn't put the fire out when the job was done. It wasn't all that different from prep to burn a body, actually. Then he walked back over and grabbed a bag. "Alright, guys. Let's get to work."

It took each boy to carry one bag, but they got it over to the burn pit. "Good job, boys." Sam praised, cutting the bag open and pouring its contents into the hole.

The boys face lit up, happy that they were doing a good job. They ran to get another bag.

They spent the next half hour in a steady rhythm, bringing bags to the edge, where Sam could cut and dump them, along with his own. They were pretty good workers, considering their ages. Of course, maybe that's why they were so good at it. Even burning leaves was an adventure at that age.

They were just about finished when Cas tripped over a rock, stumbling. They tot managed to hold himself up for a minute, before falling back in the pit. Fortunately, the leaves were so thick, they acted like a cusion and he wasn't hurt.

Sam crouched down quickly, "Cas, are you hurt?"

"No." Cas said, managing to get up, "These are crunchy."

Sam leaned down to pick him up when a squealing blur rushed past him and into the pile.

"Dean!" Sam exclaimed, staring down, "What are you doing?!"

Dean rolled around on the leaves, giggling. "These _are_ crunchy Daddy!"

As the two boys played, throwing rolling and throwing leaves at each, other, Sam couldn't stay upset. "Alright, you can play in the leaves a little bit, but you have to keep them in the hole."

"Okay!" Dean agreed, throwing leaves at Cas, who threw back.

The boys kept happily playing in the leaves for a while after that, they rolled, crushed, crunched and made little leave piles. Then they decided they wanted to have a new playmate. Crawling to the edge, each one grabbed their father's pants leg.

"Ah, what are you doing guys?" Sam asked, when he felt the tugging.

"Come play, too." Dean responded.

"Alright." Sam agreed, carefully crouching down and slipping into the pile, "Oh, this is surprisingly soft."

The boys giggled.

After a little while of just rolling in the leaves, the twins grabbed handfuls of leave and crept over to their father, laughing as they dropped them on him.

"Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" Sam teased before tossing leaves onto them, causing the boys to happily squeal.

As fun as it was eventually, they had to get out of the pile and do what they had come their to do.

"Alright boys." Sam said, pulling out his lighter, "Take a step back."

The boys complied, backing up.

"Little further." Sam instructed.

The boys took a few more step back, and Sam lit fire, engulfing the leaves.

After watching the fire for a few minutes, Dean asked, "Can we have marshmallows'?"

"W-what?" Sam asked, laughing a little.

"Nessa says you can cook marshmallows on fires." Dean explained.

"Tell you what," Sam began, "It's a little late now, but the next time we burn leaves, we'll buy a thing of marshmallows to cook on the fire."

"When'll that be?" Dean asked.

"A week or so." Sam told him.

"We're home!" Sam called out, walking down the stairs with a toddler on either shoulder.

Hannah met then at the foot of the stairs. "They weren't too much trouble, were they?" When Sam got to her she took the child nearest to her, Dean, the noticed a bright red leaf against the tawny mop that, if she was being honest was due for a trim, "Why is there a lead in his here?" Then he noticed Sam and Cas were in similar states. Reaching out and removing a brown leaf from Sam's locks she asked, "Why is there a leaf in _your_ hair?"

"We, ah, wound up playing with the leaves before we burned them." Sam explained, "But, other than that they were actually pretty helpful."

As they tucked the boys in for their nap, Sam a thought. "Hey, honey, can you hold down the fort for a little bit longer while I make a run?"

When the boys woke up, they were walked in the kitchen to find their dad with a fork with a marshellow on it, holding it over the stove.

"Daddy?" Dean asked, still a little sleepy, "What you doing?"

"Fire's not the only way to cook a marshmallow." Sam told them, taking the marshmallow and putting it on a waiting graham cracker topped with chocolate, and then started another marshmallow.

Dean and Cas' eyes widened. "What's that?!" Dean asked.

"This is called a s'more." Sam explained, "It's a cooked marshmallow, with chocolate in between two graham crackers."

The boys started to get excited. "Can we have one?" Cas asked.

"Of course." Sam told them, "That's why I'm making them. Just let me get one ready for each of you."

Sam finished the second s'more and handed them both to the boys, who eagerly stuffed them into their mouths.

"Careful." Sam advised, "Those things are hot."

The children didn't seem to notice or mind, voraciously munching on the s'mores.

"Boys, what do you say?" Hannah nudged from where she was watching from the doorway.

"Fank you." The boys chimed in unison.

"And thanks for all your help today, guys." Sam told them, giving them each a rub on the head, "Keep up the good work and I might give you a raise."

He couldn't help himself.


	76. Black Friday

On an almost empty playground, five people, three toddlers, a brunette teenager and a redheaded young woman were engaged in an intense sword battle when, cornered by the tawny-hair toddler, the teen put her hands up and fell to her knees. "I surrender." Alex declared, laying it on thick. "Mercy, mercy!"

Dean scrunched his face for a moment, as if trying to comprehend what she was doing.

Suddenly Alex reached out, tickling Dean and sending him to the ground, but he was laughing all the while. "Alex!" He squalled, "Stop! Stop!"

"What's the magic word?" Alex teased.

"Please, please!" Dean shouted.

Alex stopped and helped him up, and then Charlie helped Alex up in turn.

At the picnic shelter, Reason and her sister both looked from where they were setting the turkey down, smiling at the kids. "So, how are Alex and Jody related to everyone again?" Ester asked, tugging at her gray blazer. Her big sister had warned her it would be a casual affair, but she managed to over dress.

Ester's joining of her sister and her friends had been rather spur of the moment. She knew Reason wouldn't be able to make it out and the family had accepted but, as the day got closer, long distance calls and letters weren't enough. It a matter of scrapping up travel money and convincing her parents, but she was able to make if only a few days before. Ergo, she hadn't got everyone's relations down pat yet.

"Jody's a friend of Sam's and Alex is her daughter." Reason explained.

Just then Sam came up, holding what looked like some sort of hunting knife with a partially serrated blade. "Okay, it's not exactly a craving knife, but it's the best I could find."

Between the trouble the Winchesters had with it last year, how much they already had on their plate this year—namely the high risk pregnancy—and the fact that Reason now had an oven where she could feasibly cook a turkey, Reason and Ester took care of the turkey, did an fairly decent job of it, but then realized they didn't have anything to crave up the beast with. So, Sam went looking for something to use to cut it with and wound up pulling a knife from the trunk.

"Thanks." Reason sighed, "You're a life-saver."

Ester, on the other hand, stared wide-eyes at the knife. What was that?! "Un, where did you find that?!"

That was when Sam realized that for someone outside their circle, this was probably a bit disturbing "Ah…um…."

"It's a hunting knife." Reason covered quickly, "Sam hunts sometimes. "This was not untrue, it was just really vague. "Why don't, you, ah, go help Hannah and Jody set up the rest of the food?"

Ester nodded, walking away slowly, then breaking into a run. "Sorry about that." Reason apologized in a low voice, "We just grew up a little…."

"Normal?" Sam cut her off, but in a good natured, if resigned way.

"I was gonna say sheltered." Reason replied. If she was being honest, after over a year as a witch, associating with angels and having a long-distance bosom friendship with a girl who was raised slash enslaved by vampires, she honestly forgot this wasn't normal sometimes. "She's—she's just needed a minute."

Sam nodded before leaning in to work on the turkey.

"Thanks again, Mrs. Johnson." Elsbeth told Corrine in the corner in a low voice.

By the time Sam had cut the turkey lunch finally ready. The spread was similarly to last year, turkey, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, spiced pumpkin seeds, plus a thing of stuffing Ester had brought.

The seventeen-year-old was currently shuffling that stuffing, back and forth on her plate, feeling somewhat out of place. Reason had a whole life here, with people she had no clue who they were, and she couldn't come with anything to say and it felt super awkward and she just didn't seem to fit. It didn't help like she got the impression that they were holding something back for her. Something more than the knife.

"Hey, you okay?" Reason whispered over to her.

"Yeah," Ester responded, "Yeah, I'm fine." Trying to change the subject and not bring down the whole event, she asked, "So, Mrs. Winchester, when are you due?"

"March." Hannah answered honestly. The angel was now visibly pregnant and had taken to wearing Sam's shirts, which fit her like a mini dress, and a pair of maternity jeans that Reason still had from her pregnancy that the young woman gifted to her after it became official. This time around she also had a full plate. "They think about the third week of March, but they're still doing exact calculations." Seeing a look of confusion on the girl's face, she covered, "It's breech."

"Oh, Mrs. Hunsdon, at our church," Ester began, "Her baby was like that, it was awful. The doctor said they've both could've died—" The realizing that was entirely _wrong_ thing to say, she coarse corrected, "But I'm sure that won't be case with you. I'm sure everything will be fine. And you must have gotten pregnancy and child birth down pat since you've already done it once before."

Everyone exchanged glances.

Reason leaned over and whispered into her little sister's ear. "Ester, the twins' are adopted and they haven't told them yet." Again, it was basically the truth, just a very edited version.

Ester looked down at her plate. "I'm sorry, I'm—I'm really sorry." How did she keep messing everything up?

"It's alright." Hannah assured her, "You didn't know. "

"Because I didn't tell you and I should have." Reason added.

"And it's Sam and Hannah." Sam told them, "Otherwise we'll never get past the weather."

After the meal the adults cleaned everything up while the kids were playing. As Sam was putting the sweet potatoes in a cooler Reason came over saying, "Hey, Sam, can I—talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, what about?" Sam asked.

"I—I knew we planned on going to the sales together." Reason began, "But, um, that was before I knew Ester was coming, and—"

"Oh, no, I understand." Sam assured, "So, you won't be needing Hannah and Charlie to take Maudie, then?"

"Oh, no, I'm not backing out." Reason corrected him, "There's a blanket I need for Maudie and I'm also doing Serena's since she has to work, I was just hopping maybe she—she could come with? I promised she'll be my responsibly, you won't have to do a thing."

"Ah, you do realize she's seventeen, right?" Sam reminded her, "I mean, she's a little awkward, but I'm sure she can handle herself."

"You've clearly never been to these sales before." Reason declared flatly, "But is that yes?"

Sam bit back a chuckle. "Yes, that's a yes."

Several hours later, Sam was putting on his coat while Hannah was handing him coupons and giving him tips.

"And if it's down to the last item, please just walk away." The pregnant angel pleaded, holding the fold of Sam's jacket with one hand. "I love you. Please, stay safe out there."

"Uh, you know you're not sending me off to war, right?" Sam responded.

"I went ask there last year." Hannah reminded him, "I saw it. The lines, the shoving, one woman was using her baby as a human shield to get towels, it was awful."

Last year Serena Joy had offered to take Hannah Black Friday shopping with her, and not needing sleep, being curious, and honestly since they did have two kids some of the deals were too good to pass up, went out with her. It was oddly exhilarating, but at the same time a horrifying thing to witness. Obviously, she couldn't really go out in her condition, but with a third child on the way the need for scrimping, so out into the dark cold Sam went in her stead.

"Don't worry, I got him." Jody declared, coming up, dressed in her big coat, and black knit cap, followed by Alex, who was also dressed for the cold weather.

"Thanks guys." Sam told them, "You don't have to do this."

"You've always had our backs, Sam." Jody reasoned, "Let us have yours. Even if it's just for like, a campfire playset, or whatever."

"That reminds me," Hannah began, handing him another add, "There's a thrift store doing some kind of 'all you can get into a bag' for five dollars sale, and I saw they had a lot of baby clothes, so you should probably get out there if you can."

"Sure." Sam agreed, giving her a smile, then leaned in to kiss her. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Hannah replied.

That was how the group wound up in tent on the side walk in front of the _Sam's Cub_ in the next town, huddled close to each other waiting to Jody to return from the coffee run they had sent her on, because do to a miscommunication, everyone thought everyone else was bringing the coffee.

"Okay," The Sheriff said, once she had returned with two trays worth of drinks, "I got one double shot red eye," she handed that to Sam, "One house roast with cream and sugar," she handed that to Alex, "One ditto," She handed another cup to reason, "One creamed, flavored thing that shouldn't even be considered coffee anymore," She handed that to Ester.

"Thank you, ma'am." Ester responded, taking the cup gratefully.

"No problem." Jody responded, "And one black, two sugars." And then she sat down herself.

"I got us covered on food." Reason said, then being pulled out five oranges out of her back pack, a jar of something that looked like butter, and two jars of some sort of black and brown colored clumps.

"Ah, not complaining, but what is that?" Alex asked.

"Pemmican." Reason answered, opening the jar, "It's a mixture of dried meat, dried fruit and rendered fats, originally made by Native Americans, and last forever. Avery sent me the recipe. I think she got it from Delores."

"Avery?" Ester repeated, "Avery Bennet? You know where she is? And who's Delores?"

"Wait, there's not—" Alex began.

"No, we know she's alive and we didn't meet with foul play." Ester cut her off, "Her parents would just like to hear for her. They'd like to hear from you, too, by the way."

Trying to steer from what she knew could prove an awkward area, Alex spoke up, "So, what's the plan?"

"Plan?" Sam repeated.

Jody shook her head. "Oh, you are clearly a rookie. Now that tee pee you wanted for the boys is gonna be a hot ticket item, so we do that fires.t Then we'll circle round to those activities' books Sam wanted to get. Girls, you think you can handle what Reason and Serena needed?"

The girls nodded.

"Okay, now I'm trusting you to go on your own then, and then we'll meet back at the checkout." Jody told them.

That was when the line started to move.

"Okay, I think this is it." Sam told everyone, as they moved along.

People poured in the store and the group split up. Jody had been right, the tee pee had been a hot ticket item, with half of them gone by the time the pair got them. "How—" Sam began in shock.

"What I tell you." Jody said, grabbing a box, just as someone else grabbed it, "Hey. I had it first."

"Oh, that is a crock." The woman grabbing onto the other end exclaimed.

Jody pulled hard enough to ripped the box from the woman's hand, saying, "There's more on that end." Then she shoved it in the cart saying to Sam "Go. Go, go, go."

Sam didn't have to be told twice, making a run for it.

Meanwhile, the area where the blankets where was much less crowded, giving the girls time to look.

"So, what does she like?" Ester asked, looking through the blankets, "I don't know her that well yet."

"Pink or _Frozen._ "Reason answered, "Also banks, but I don't think that's gonna be on a blanket."

The blanket was for Maudie. Reason had fine ally scrapped up a bedframe she patched up from the dump but the toddler was still scared of sleeping on her own and she was hopping a pretty blanket might make the room feel like home.

"How 'bout this one?" Alex suggested, pulling out a pink blanket lined with darker pink.

"Oooh, she'd like that." Reason declared, she put that in the cart and continued to go over the blanket, just in case.

Meanwhile, Jody and Sam were speeding through the aisles, trying to stay out of everybody's way and trying to find the girls. "Can't you just call Alex?" Sam suggested.

"I'm trying to get my phone out." Jody informed, perhaps a bit tersely.

That was when they heard the _crash._

On the instinct the hunters whirled around and found a man who had been thrown against one of the displays. He reared back, throwing a punch at another man, hitting him in the face. That was when a third man stepped in between now saying, "Hey now, we're all members here."

That was when Sam and Jody deciding to find a safer place to try to contact their friends.

Meanwhile, the girls had got the blanket and a few other things Serena Joy has asked them to pick up, and had come to a mass of bodies that seemed to be climbing over reach other for some sort of educational mechanical dog.

 _Serena so owes me for this._ Reason thought as the girls stepped back, keeping their heads up and trying to breathe. They took each other by the hand. "You okay there, Ester?" Reason asked as while her sister was not exactly claustrophobic, tight spaces made her uncomfortable.

As they were trying to figure what to do and man walked up to them. "Excuse me," He began, "Did you ladies need one of these?"

"Huh-hun." Alex confirmed, nodding.

The man then reached out into the fray, got a toy and handed it to them and started to clear a path for the girls to get away.

"Thank you, sir," Reason shouted out as they ran for it.

They wound up all regrouping in the _Sam's Club_ restraunt area, thought it wasn't open yet.

"Okay," Sam began, "You got everything?"

"Yeah." Reason confirmed, "You?"

"I can, I saw, I somehow concurred." Sam answered.

"So, what now? "Alex asked, as all this was new to her.

"Now, we find a check out and wait." Jody declared.

That morning at the bunker, Hannah stumbled into the kitchen, pulling a mug out of the cabinet and the milk out of the fridge, before pulling out her phone and dialing Sam's speed dial.

"Hey, honey." Sam greeted her.

"Hey, just wanted to check in." Hannah explained, "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah." Sam assured her, "We—actually finally made it to the point we can actually see the checkout."

"You already got everything?" Hannah asked, pleasantly surprised.

"From _Sam's Club._ "Sam replied, "I, ah, I think we have a couple more stops to make." After a beat he asked, "Ah, everything good there?"

Hannah's brow furrowed as she looked through the cabinet. "It will be if I can find the honey."

"Last cabinet on the right, next to the spices." Sam answered, "Cravings again?"

"Don't know if I'd call it a craving." Hannah replied, "Just suddenly want honey in my milk." At last she found the bear, uncapped the milk, pouted it into her mug, and put three generous squeezes into the milk.

"Yeah, well, if you suddenly want anything else, there a bag of watercress in the fridge, two heads of iceberg lettuce, and a jar of that carrot cake jam you really liked in the cabin." After a beat he added, "I think it might be next to the honey, actually."

Hannah put the bear back and saw that there was in fact a jar of the light orange colored jam there. "Why are you so good to me?" Hannah asked, almost sincerely.

"Why not?" Sam reasoned, almost playfully.

Just then, the line started moving again.

"Hannah, the line's moving." Sam told her, "I think we can finally get to the check out, got to go. I love you."

"I love you, too." Hannah agree before she hung up. She sighed. At least things seemed to be going okay, that was good. Taking her cup and turning around, she picked up the bottle of nondairy creamer, opening, and pouring the powder into the milk and stirring. Maybe this was a craving after all.

Turning on the coffee pot and putting on bread to toast, Hannah put her the cup to her lips and began to drink the sweet, creamy concoction when there was knock at the door.

With Charlie waiting at the stairs, Hannah opened the door to find Tabbris standing in front of the doorway. "Hey," The angel greeted his sister, "It's been a few weeks so I—I wanted to check in to see how you were doing." After a beat he added, "Like the look by the way."

"Charlie," Hannah called down, "Can you take care of the kids for a little bit?"

Five minutes later, Tabbris was at one of the tables in the stacks, Hannah handing him a cup of coffee before sitting down with her milk. "Does Heaven know you're here?"

"Yes, and no." Tabbris answered, "Yes, they know I'm here, but they think I'm checking in on the littlest angel. No one even suspects their anything between you and Sam beyond platonically raising children together, and they most certainly don't suspect you're carrying his child. Or anyone's child for that matter. You could really be barren for all they know."

Hannah felt a moment of relief, but the part of him officially 'checking in' on Cas made her nervous. "And Castiel? Is Heaven going to try to take him away from us?" The pregnancy had put concerns about other angels on the back burner for both her and Sam, but, now that, that part was out in the open, the worry hand been at the back of their minds.

Tabbris shook his head. "Admittedly most of them are still trying to wrapped their heads around the 'physically and mentally de-aging thing'. There are some that wanted him back, that even if the spell couldn't be undone that he should be raised among his own kind, trained for the service of Heaven, you can guess who leaded that group, also, your chosen co parent didn't exactly help your case, but between your supporters and those who learned from their little misadventure in babysitting sanity won the day and the only interference you'll have is me checking in once a month give or take. Which is also an excuse to check on you and the baby."

Hannah sighed with relief. Then something caught her attention. "My supporters?"

"The stragglers you've returned." Tabbris explained "I don't know what you've been doing down here, but it seems you made an impression on them. I think anyone who would want to get to you would have to go through them first."

Hannah honestly wasn't sure how to feel or even think about that, so she decided to move on to her next concern. "And Duma? "

"After that little stunt she pulled, her name is mud as far as the majority of Heaven is concerned." Tabbris told her, "No one talks to her unless they absolutely have to, she got demoted, and Ruth watches her like a hawk." After a beat he explained, "Ruth, she's another survivor from the intelligence unit, she never really liked Duma anyway. Tried to get Naomi to let us kill her. Obviously she said no." After a beat, seeing the look on Hannah's face that, that was the entirely wrong thing to say, he got to his point, "The point is, you should have nothing to worry about from her."

Once again, Hannah felt relief wash over her as she took a sip of her milk.

Tabbris got to the real reason he was here. "How are you feeling? You found a doctor to see, right?"

"Dr. Robert, he, ah, technically lost his license, but he's very egger," Hannah told him, "A case like this is once and a lifetime he says." After a beat she continued, "The child's developing at faster rate, already has organs, legs, arms ears, starting to form a face. Soon we'll know the gender for sure. The boys are really excited about that."

"And you?" Tabbris inquired, "Any strange pains? Abigail would complain of strange little pains, pains different from the normal childbearing discomfort. It turns out to be the result of the strain of the bodies that leads to— "His voice trailed off, because talking about the time the woman he loved died, even though it didn't stick, was painful to talk about.

"I haven't felt anything that hasn't turned out to be normal just yet." Hannah told him, "Remember, pain in child bearing and childbirth is the punishment for Eve eating the forbidden fruit." Adjusting herself, she added, "At this point I'd gladly trade it for toiling the earth for food." After a beat she added, "How is Abigail by the way? We haven't heard anything for her since you brought her here."

Tabbris got quiet again. "The possibly of another Nephilim, a creature like Jane—it hasn't been easy on her. It's stirred up a lot of memories, lots of thoughts. Especially since she's never really recovered from—well, you don't really recover from losing a child , but—she's _really_ never recovered. She's gone back to stay with her sister's for a while. And I'm not really sure that's a good thing, especially since I think one of the holidays just happened. Gail and Jane would head down to her uncle's dive bar in the Keys, he closed the place on holidays and Sundays, and they would turn on the music and dance. Jane really did love to dance." After a beat, he continued, "Lots of memories for her, this time of year." Another beat, then the continued, "I've, ah, I've tried calling her, but, um, she's not returning my calls."

"I'm so sorry." Hannah told him, "I, ah, I really am." She wished there was more she could do, more she could say, but she honestly didn't know what.

Tabbris was solemn and silent for a moment, but forced himself to brighten somewhat as he asked, "So, ah, where's Sam? I'd figure he be out sitting with an angel blade in hand in case I tried anything by now."

"He's currently engaging in a yearly ritual where people trample each other for cheap goods mere hours after being thankful for what they already have." Hannah explained, moving the cup in her hands.

Meanwhile, at _Kohls_ in spite of the line that went throughout the store, things were not nearly as chaotic, giving Sam and Reason the opportunity to pick out discount bedsheets in peace, while the others looked on.

"Oooh, I like this one." Reason said, looking at a set of white sheets with purple circular designs on them. She put them in the small back cart, giggling.

"What's so funny?" Ester, who was looking at the sheets with them, asked.

"It's just this is my first time buying new sheets in like, four years!" Reason explained, giddy.

Ester looked down and began to shift uncomfortably. She hated to think about her sister struggling, living off scraps with a child in situation where bedsheets were a luxury. She hated to think they didn't know. That they didn't help.

"Hey," Reason said softly, reaching out and taking her sister's hand, "It's okay. Things are looking up now." After a beat, she grinned, "I'm gonna tell you something I haven' t told anybody else yet, not even Serena Joy or Alex." She leaned in, whispering, "I just got into the mechanics program."

Sam, however, did hear it, turning around. "You what? That's great." He went over and pulled her into a hug. When he broke the embrace he asked, "When exactly where you planning on telling us?"

"I don't know I just—I guess I was waiting." Reason admitted.

"He's right, this is awesome." Ester declared, hugging her sister as well, "When do you start?"

"January, right after Martian Luther King day." Reason answered.

"Is that going to be enough time to get everything together, are you— "Ester began.

"I already got a lot together." Reason told them, "I got the money for tuition together, I've been saving for expenses, I'm talking with Rawls and Howard on Monday about moving shifts around—I think I might be able to pull this off."

"Of course you are." Alex told her, holding her tight, "Congratulations. Really."

"You did good, kid." Jody told her, finishing the congratulations.

After that revelation, Sam and the ladies went to the line, which on Black Friday at _Kohls_ are the stuff of legends, going throughout the store. Fortunately, the line moved rather fast.

As they founded one corner, Alex noticed something someone had set on one of the skillet cookies displayed: A thick black day planner. Picking it up she was it was for the next year, and got an idea, sticking it under her arm until they got to the front.

Around the next corner, the group in front of them dropped a princess doll. "Excuse me, miss," Sam began, picking up the doll, "You dropped this."

An older woman with ash blonde hair turned around taking the doll. "Oh, thank you so much." She turned around than peeked back, as something about a few members of the group seemed vaguely familiar.  
"Hey, Mrs. Johnson." Reason spoke up.

Corrine turned back around. "Good to see again. How are you? Now, don't tell me that daughter actually talked you into doing her shopping for you?"

"Well, she took care of mine for me last year so I figure I owe her." Reason explained.

And so, the two groups chatted as the line moved, until they got to the front where a woman was dividing the line between three check outs, each getting into their own line.

Meanwhile, back at the bunker, the toddlers had been fed a breakfast of toast with butter or jam, and were having a relatively quiet morning coloring on the floor.

Tabbris was standing in the doorway watching them. "Ah, I thought it was just Dean and Cas." He whispered over to Hannah, "Where did the little girl come from?"

"Remember the witch who accidently turned them into toddlers?" Hannah responded, "Well, we'll all kind of friends now and sometimes we watch her child for her who's the same age as the boys."

"Ah," Tabbris responded, nodding, "You sure this wasn't some elaborate scheme of her part to get free babysitting?"

"I don't think she's that diabolical." Hannah replied honestly.

"Ah, no offense to your new friend here, but should we really be letting him get this close?" Charlie asked, leaning over to Hannah and whispering.

"He's mostly harmless." Hannah whispered back, "I think."

The toddlers were starting to notice they were being watched, all sticking their little heads up.

"Hey there guys," Tabbris greeted, smiling, and walking over to the children, crouching down next to Cas, "Do you remember me?"

"You helped Mommy got my medicine and then you came back when Mommy was sick and everyone came over." Cas answered, continued to color, "Thank you."

Dean's ears perked up as that. Picking up a bright orange crayon, and handed to Tabbris, "Do you want to draw?"

Tabbris looked at him. "Well, I don't have much time. But I guess I could color for a little bit if your mom says it okay."

Hannah gestured for him to go ahead. "By all means."

Tabbris took a piece of construction paper and started clumsily drawing little circles. It had been a long time since he had done it.  
That was when Dean remembered something. "Where's that lady?"

All was quiet, then Hannah decided to intervene. "What lady, little one?"

"The lady that was so sad last time." Dean answered.

Tabbris began a morose staring contest with the paper. "She's, uh, she's not here right now. She had other things she needed to do."

"Oh." Dean responded.

Maudie, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about the newcomer, slinking around from the group with her picture.

Trying to change the subject and wanting to put the little girl at ease, he asked, "What are you coloring?"

"A potato." Maudie answered, still drawing brunt sienna blob that vaguely resembled a potato.

"Have you even seen Mr. Potato Head?" Tabbris asked. He remembered the toy from when Jane had been little. She had one that had been gift from her great uncle that she absolutely adored. "He looks like this." He blew out his checks with air, making half his face look puffy.

Maudie began to giggle.

"Doesn't he?" Tabbris continued, and the kids nodded.

Sam and the girls had wound up at their last step: The local _Teen Challenge._

"Okay, you see that set up there?" Reason asked, pointing to where one of the employees was cooking hot dogs, "You see those bags?"

"Huh-huh." Sam nodded.

"Any rack with a balloon on it, you stuff as many clothes as you want into those bags," Reason explained, "Only five bucks."

"Really?" Sam asked.

"Umm-hmm." Reason nodded.

"Oh, I should've done this years ago." Sam declared as he and Reasoned stepped forward.

"Um, maybe we should get in on this." Jody suggested.

"Couldn't hurt." Alex agreed, as they went to join the others.

Sam had one stop in mind, the children's clothing, particularly the baby clothes. They didn't know the gender yet, so he tended to stay away from the pinks and blues and onesies with cute saying. Then he saw it.

A little green and darker green shirt that read: Half-Dino.  
Sam took the little shirt off the rack and examined it. It was good quality, clearly gently used, looked warm, if the baby turned out to be a girl, he guesses they could get her a little green bow to wear with it. Might even be cute.

 _I'm getting it._ Sam thought, stuffing it into the bag.

Back as the bunker, just as the group was driving back, the Winchester's, Maudie's and Charlie's unexpected visitor was about to leave.

"And you'll call me if you start feeling any strange pains?" Tabbris asked, standing with Hannah in the doorway.

"The first I feel of it." Hannah assured her, "Thanks, Tabbris…for everything really. For—for not telling anyone about this."

"Well, it's be a bit hypocrite if I did." Tabbris reminded him, "Happy Black Friday, Hannah."

"I don't think—" Hannah began, then decided to let it go, "You too."

When got out of sight Tabbris pulled a cell phone and out of his jacket and dialed a number, putting it to his ear.

In a dive bar down in the Florida Keys a woman with brown hair that had a long gray streak down side was whipping down a bar when a phone started to ring. She turned around from where it had been left, and picked it up. "Abigail's phone."

"Hey, ah, Oliva, it's— "Tabbris began nervously.

"Tabbris." Oliva the bar owner cut him off in a hushed, shocked voice, "Thought you were dead. Sorry, that didn't come out right, it's just I haven't heard anything from you in…in a while."

When her little sister first confided to her about her angelic boyfriend, Oliva Keaton had thought the girl had lost her mind. Then she got pregnant, things started getting weird, Abigail went off the grid and when Oliva finally tracked her down she brust into motel room in Dahlonega to find her wailing niece with briefly glowing eyes, a creature that looked like their childhood friend wielding a sword-like weapon, and her sister's dead body. Then her sister wasn't dead anymore. Suddenly Abigail seemed less insane.

"I just—I wanted to check on Gail." Tabbris managed to get out, "May I speak to her?"

"She's…she's nursing a hangover from yesterday." Oliva just came out with it, "Last time I checked on her, she wasn't in a fit state to talk to anyone. But I'll let her know you called."

"Thank you." Tabbris breathed, closing his eyes.

"And Tabbris?" Oliva began, lowering her shaky voice, "While I have you, I need you to know…I don't blame you for what happened to Janie. You—you can't control what everyone does."

 _That makes one of us._ Tabbris but out loud he said, "Thank you…I—I think I need to go."

"Okay." Oliva began, "Abigail she's…she's been talking about things. I'm not sure I understand it all, but good luck."

Meanwhile, Sam had just pulled into the bunker with the girls. Walking into the bunker proper, he called out, "Hey! Anybody home?!"

Just then Hannah appeared. "Did everyone get through alright?"

"Yeah, "Sam assured her, "We got everything we needed to, and no one died." Then he let out a yawn.

Alex elbowed Joy. "Sounds like the rookie needs a nap." And all four women giggled.

"No, I'm good." Sam insisted, before yawning again. "Okay, maybe a small one." As they walked down the hall he asked, "Hey, everything go okay here?"

"Just an unexpected visitor." Hannah answered.

As Sam walked towards the bedroom, a line of three toddlers began to followers. "Ah, guys, what are you doing?"

"We missed you!" Dean declared.

"I'm sure he missed you, too, but Daddy needs some sleep." Hannah told them, trying to direct them away from Sam.

"Yeah, come on guys, we can find something to do." Charlie encouraged.

"No, no it's fine." Sam insisted.

As Sam sat playing with the kids, his eyes started to get heavy. _Well, maybe they wouldn't notice if I shut them for a minute._ Then within seconds he was out cold.

The kids began to look over to him then Dean crawled up, gently nudging. "Daddy?"

"Come on guys." Charlie said, trying to lead the kids away, "Let him sleep."

Dean had a better idea. He walked over and curled up in his father's lap. His brother and Maudie followed suit, all curled up around Sam, snoozing.

The woman just gathered round, watching them group, Charlie pulling out a camera. "Oh, this is too good to not get."


	77. Baby Names

"Okay." Dr. Robert said, rubbing the monitor on Hannah's belly, "Just need a minute to find our little Nephilim here."

"What's a Nep—nephil—il—" Dean stumbled over the big word. He didn't like big words. Big words were hard and they never came out of his mouth right.

"It's…what happens sometimes when an angel and human have baby together." Sam explained awkwardly, before shooting the doctor an aggravated glare. They hadn't explained the concept of Nephilim yet, because aside from being a bit over the toddlers' heads, plus, they were afraid it could lead to other questions.

"It's what happens sometimes when an angel and human have a baby." Sam explained, glaring daggers at Dr. Robert.

"Are we Nep—nep—nepill—" Cas stammered out. He didn't like big words any more than his brother did.

"No." Hannah cut him off, "You're an angel and Dean's a human."

The adults knew what was coming next.

"Why?!" The boys asked in unison.

Fortunely that was when Dr. Robert found the baby. "And there it is. Or I should say rather, there _she_ is."

It took them a minute to realize what the doctor was getting it. "It's a little girl?" Hannah asked.

"It's a girl?" Sam repeated, almost in a sate of shock and awe.

Dr. Robert nodded.

"We'se gonna have a baby sister?" Cas asked looking up at them.

Dean, however, had a slightly different reaction. "Are you sure?"

Dr. Robert smirked to himself. "Yes. I'm sure. You're having a little girl. And still looks perfectly healthy."

The parents barely heard him, staring at the screen. "Sam," Hannah began, "Do you see her?"

"Yeah, I do." Sam confirmed, still processing.

An hour later, Serena Joy was at her apartment, cutting out shapes of sugar cookie dough and signing along to the radio. " _I sure do like those Christmas cookies, sugar. I sure do like do like those Christmas cookies, babe. The ones that look like…"_ He voices trailed off as the phone rang, and she picked it up. "Hey, Hannah."

"Hey, Serena." Hannah began, sitting at the table with a glass of milk, pad of paper, and a baby name book, "We, ah, we found out the gender today."

Serena Joy dropped the cookie cutter and turned off the radio. "And? Come on, angel girl, don't leave me in suspense here."

"It's a girl." Hannah told her.

Serena Joy grinned. "That's amazing. Now they only outnumber you by one over there."

"I never thought of it that way." Hannah responded, "I've started looking at names now that we know, but I'm not…there's so many of them." After a beat she asked, "Is 'Lolita' a good name?"

Serena Joy froze a moment. "Ah…where did you get that from?"

"I found it in the Ls." Hannah explained, "It's a Spanish diminutive for Delores. It means 'sad'. It was pretty popular in the 50s." After a beat she caught the change in demeanor, "Why do you sound like that?"

"Hannah the reason that name lost its popularity was because of this—well, this novel." Serena Joy awkwardly explained, "And ah…look, there's this blog called _Rejected Princesses,_ Lolita was one of the first entries, look it up on that sight specifically," she was afraid what Hannah might find otherwise, "And then talk to Sam."

Later that day, Reason brough Maudie over for the afternoon. As he watched her set Maudie down, Cas just came out with it. "We'se gonna had a baby sister."

Reason looked at the child parents, who were both present. "A baby sister?"

Sam and Hannah nodded.

She let out a joyous shriek like a happy pterodactyl. "That's awesome guys!" Reason declared, "Congratulations."

"What's so great 'bout another girl?" Dean spoke up.

"Well, another boy would've been great, too." Sam told him crouching down, "But a girl's still something to be happy over."

"But what are we supposed to do with a girl?" Dean protested.

"Well, what do you do with Maudie and your friends?" Hannah countered. It suddenly occurred to her that maybe Dean might be feeling a bit outnumbered himself.

Dean seemed to think on that for a moment before he asked, "Maudie's a girl?"

What Maudie said next, they would never figure out where she got it from. "You just figuring that out now?"

The adults couldn't help themselves and the room filled with laugher.

Later on, Sam was in the bedroom, taking a moment, staring up in the ceiling, thinking something similar to what Dean had asked.

What was _he_ supposed to do with a girl?

With the boys it was a little a weird because they use to be adults, and he had known both of them as adults, but—well, Sam had been a little boy too once. He could take a guess at what they would like, what they would be interested in. But a girl? Some days he was still trying to figure out his own wife—granted his wife was also a different species, but still. How did he interact with a little girl? What was he supposed to do?

That was when Hannah stepped into the doorway, "The kids found the boxes with the ornaments. They were wanting to—hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just—I'm thinking." Sam told her, somewhat afraid to admit his reservations. He didn't want Hannah to think he didn't _want_ the child because her sex.

Hannah sat down on the edge of the bed next to Sam. "What were you thinking about?"

Sam decided to just come out with it. "Don't get me wrong, I'm—I'm happy we're having a girl, but…. what if I can't connect with her? How do I—we—raise her? I mean, and I suppose to shit there with a shotgun to scare off boys?"

"Considering she's still in uredo I think that's a bit pre mature." Hannah told her, "And possibly not legal. As for the other, you already have experience connecting with girls. Or need I remind you—" Hannah reached out and took off one of the boots, then the sick, revealing his pale pink painted toenails.

Two weeks before, Reason's jar of nail polish someone got accidently brought to the bunker, and Maudie got in in her head that she wanted to paint fingernails, for starting with Sam because, in her semi-sensical toddler's logic, his were the biggest. Sam had convinced her just to do his toes, not realizing that polished actually stayed better in longer on toenails, so a fortnight later, all three Winchester males had pink toenails—she had convinced the boys to go along with it too. Hannah's came off in two days because it was on hers was on her fingers and therefore got chipped constantly.

"Oh." Sam responded, looking at the toenails, "Right?"

"So, tree?" Hannah asked.

Sam sat up. "Give me second to get my sock back on."

The three had already been sat up a couple days before, when Sam had gotten everything down from storage, but with everything going on they hadn't actually got a chance to put it up, so the boxes just sat there, now with three small children standing over them.

"Okay guys," Sam began, "Give me a little room here." He opened the box, revealing a hog pog of ornament.

One of the ornaments in the box was blue ball with sliver designs. "Pretty!" Maudie explained, going in and grabbing it.

"Ah, ah, careful." Sam cautioned as the little girl ran over to the tree, and just starred up at it, crunching her face. The she turned around and held out her arms, "Up."

Sam leaned down and pick Maudie up. "Okay, Maudie, where do you want it?"

"There." Maudie answered, pointing about halfway up.

Sam happily obliged, leaning in and helping her to carefully attach the glass ball to the branch. By the time he sent Maudie down Dean had ran up, holding a green glass pine cone. "Me next! Me next!"

"Okay." Sam complained, lifting it up. Maybe boys and girls weren't that different after all.

Hours later that evening, the family plus Maudie were on the couch, all the kids curled in a pile, half asleep watching _Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer._

"I still don't understand what's everyone so worked up about." Hannah whispered over to Sam, "I mean, they live in a land with elves, talking deer, and a yeti that runs around terrorizing everyone, and red glowing nose is where they draw the line?"

"I always thought they were just bunch of bullies." Sam commented.

"I mean—Coach Comet's wearing a _hat_ and they don't send him into exile." Hannah continued, the after a beat, changed the subject, "What do you think about Clarice? For a girl's name?"

It took a minute to figure out what Hannah was talking about. "You want to name our daughter after a Claymation reindeer?"

"Well, there's also that FBI agent from the one film." Hannah reasoned, "You know, the one with the cannibal therapist?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what film you're talking about." Sam told her.

Hannah took out the baby name book and flipped through it. "It says here Clarice means 'insightful'."

"You…you already started looking?" Sam asked. It wasn't the idea hadn't occurred to them it seemed somewhat odd, naming someone you hadn't even met yet. What if she didn't look like whatever name they picked out?

"Would you like to see the list?" Hannah asked. She had meant to share it with him anyway.

"Ah, yeah, sure." Sam replied.

Hannah handed a folded piece of paper and Sam began to read. "Ah, Hannah, there's something I should probably tell you."

"I learned about the name's cultural significance from a blog post after I wrote it down." Hannah explained, "That's why it's cross off. With some of the interpretations out there I'd rather not have that be the thing people think of when they hear our daughter's name."

"Me neither." Sam agreed, glad they were on the same page, then continued reading, "Mary?"

"I thought you might want to use your mother's name." Hannah explained, "Or maybe a variation like Marie or something for a middle name, if we decide not to use it for the first one."

"I think I like that idea." Sam nodded, "Ah… but what's with this you have in parthesis? 'Sea of bitterness, Mother of Christ'."

"That's what Mary means in Hebrew apparently." Hannah explained, "I—I wrote all the meanings of the names now by them, if they had them in the book."

Suddenly Sam got a wild hair. "Hannah, can I see that book for a minute?"

"Sure." Hannah replied, handing him the book, wondering what he was going to do with him.

Sam flipped to the Hs in the girl's section, and, when he found what he was looking for, broke out in a grin, chuckling. "Well, that's on the nose."

"What is?" Hannah asked.

"Hannah literally means Grace in Hebrew." Sam told her.

"Really?" She asked, grabbing the book back to look.

As she looked through the book, Sam read the next name. "Caroline?"

"She was one of the people who convinced me to accept my feelings for you and has been disturbingly alright with the current Nephilim situation." Hannah reasoned, "It's the least we can do to honor her."

"Yeah, but…didn't you say a while back that you were starting to think Rawls might think you're actually Caroline?" Sam pointed out.

To be fair, they didn't have much to go on for that. The month before during a date Rawls got unusually tipsy and when he gets drunk he starts blurting random things out and he told Serena Joy that he knew what they had about portions of Sam's past being 'misunderstandings' but if he and his wife actually decide to go into a life of crime—"well, back into on in C-Anna's case" (he normally did not get this drunk, and it showed)—that they would be very good at it and he it was a good thing people can change. Serena Joy called them to let them know about it, just in case, but when nothing came of it, they decided to let it drop. They had enough problems.

"That's why she suggested an alternative." Hannah responded, pointing to the next name down on the list, "Coraline. Means country girl in American."

"And the literary reference is less…disturbing." Sam added. At least that's what he thought. He had never actually read either book.

"There's a book character with that name too?" Hannah asked surprised.

"Yeah, but it's ah, a grade school book." Sam assured him.

Hannah breathed a sigh of relief, finding what she was looking for at that moment. "It says here, Samuel means 'man who heard God' or 'prophet' in Hebrew."

"Really?" Sam asked, momentarily distracted.

Hannah nodded.

"Well, maybe there's still hope then." Sam quipped.

After some flipping through the book, Hannah added, "And apparently Dean is English for 'Calming'."

Sam glanced over to Dean, who wasn't paying attention much to what the adults were saying, trying to stay awake and in the world of talking reindeer and misfit toys. In any form, 'calm' was not a word he would use to describe him.

Hannah flipped from the 'Cs' in the boys half of the book. "I can't find Cas' names anywhere."

"Well, I'm pretty sure we're the only ones with a kid name Castiel." Sam pointed out, "But, um, back in the day I was researching angels, and Cas in particular, because, well, he was the only name we had at the time. Couldn't find much, just, a name on an apocryphal list of angels that only really told what he was supposed to be the angel of—Thursday new changes and travel, sometimes solitude and tears, by the way—but I think it might be 'Shield of God'."

"Oh." Hannah responded.

Moving on, Sam looked at the next name on the list: _Raquel._

Sam didn't have to ask about that. Raquel had been her best friend of Heaven, one of her friends that she saw killed. Of course, she considered naming their baby after her. And there was a human name that was close. He deiced not to comment on that one, since there was no need to.

The next one, however, caught him by surprise.

"Okay, I get your reasoning behind all the other ones, but, what about "Jacqueline?""

"I just thought it was pretty." Hannah told him.

Sam thought a moment. "Yeah, it is."

"Are there any names you were thinking of?" Hannah asked.

"Not really." Sam admitted, "Hard to guess the name for someone you haven't met yet, of you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do." Hannah responded.

"Although, we could add one to list." Sam suggested.

Hannah handed him a pencil and he wrote down, _Clarice._ "Maybe she'll look like a serial killer fighting cartoon reindeer."

Hannah giggled a little at that.

With that, the couple leaned back, soaking in the moment and going over the names on the list, glad they still had some time to work it out.

 **AN: Yeah, I think my obsession with name meanings got a little more into this then I meant it too.**

 **So, I'm going to do something I don't usually do. I'm having a really tough time deciding what to name this kid, so it there was a name here anyone liked more than the others, please review or PM me, and whatever is picked the most by the time she's born will be the name. (If it's a tie I'll cross that bridge when I get it.)**

 **In case you need a recap, the choices are Mary, Marie , Caroline, Coraline, Raquel, Jaqueline or Clarice.**

 **Thanks!**


	78. Over The River And Through The Woods

"I don't think this is gonna work." Serena Joy grunted as she tried to zip the larger part of Reason's backpack shut.

"I'm not paying to check a bag." Reason declared, trying to stuffed Maudie's little yellow sweater down, so maybe it would make things easier.

Reason, Serena Joy, Alex, and Hannah, who were all in Reason's bedroom, backed away from the bed and the back pack on it. "I thought your parents were paying." Alex pointed out.

"They bought the tickets, but I'm pretty sure I'm on my own for everything else." Reason answered.

Reason had tried to beg off going to her parents, saying that she didn't know if she could get off in time to make the flight, and even if she could, she still didn't have enough wiggle room for tickets for both her and Maudie. She was told that if she could get off, they could provide the tickets. She thought about not and saying she did, but she felt bad outright lying to her parents again, so she asked, amusing that while Rawls would probably be amendable, Howard wouldn't let her out of the drawing. She was wrong. The plane tickets arrived in the mail a few days after that. There was no getting out of this.

Maudie, who had been watching from the corner at that point, hopped her way to the adults. "I help?"

"No, baby, I don't think you can." Reason told her, rubbing her face wearily.

"Look, maybe we should move stuff around." Serena Joy suggested, "Something you can leave behind."

With that being the only suggestions, they laid everything out on the table: Both their two brushes, children's shampoo, a bar of soap, Reason's tee shirts and the sweater she currently wasn't earing two pairs of jeans and her blue Eiffel Tower poplin dress, Maudie's little yellow sweater, her slivery lilac sweater, her white long sleeve shirt and blue floral jumper, three pairs of jeans, her brow plaid dress and the little white sweater, the gown she had wore when the Winchesters baby sat her last new years, set of yellow footie pajamas, sand every toy Maudie owned.

"Okay, so tomorrow's Christmas Eve and you're leaving the day after Christmas, right?" Serena Joy asked.

"Yeah." Reason answered.

Picking up the tee shirt, Serena Joy suggested, "Then maybe we don't need to bring your whole warrobe?"

Reason nodded, taking the tee shirt and putting it back in the closet.

"And do you really need the dresses?" Hannah asked, pointing at the poplin.

"Christmases back home are more formal." Reason told her, folding the dress up as small as she could make it, then putting in the back pack.

Picking up the soap, Alex pointed out, "Also, they're probably let you use the bathroom soap. And toothpaste."

"Right." Reason agreed, putting them to the side. She looked around for another place to cut and realized some of Maudie's toys would have to go. Tucking her hair back she crouched down to the toddler's level, saying, "Maudie, baby, I think you're going to have to pick some toys to stay here until we get back."

"No!" Maudie whined.

"I'm sorry, but we can't fit everything in the bag." Reason told her sincerely. Reaching out and stroking the child's arms, she added, "Besides, you're going to get some new toys probably while we're at Grandma and Grandpa's'."

"Why can't we stay here?" Maudie asked.

"Oh, baby, its only over Christmas." Reason assured her, picking her up and holding her.

"We stayed here last time." Maudie pointed out.

"Grandma and Grandpa want to see you again." Reason was telling Maudie when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Seeing an opportunity for the distraction, Reason switch gears, "Let's go see who that is."

Still carrying Maudie walked to her door, peaked through the hole, revealing Sam holding a large wrapped box. He had the boys on leash on and Dean was holding a smaller wrapped box.

"Oh, look what Mr. Sam and the boys got for you." Reason said in high pitched voice, hoping this would improve the toddler's mood.

Maudie's face did brighten a little as she realized the implication. "Me?"

"Yeah, you." Sam confirmed as he was ushered in.

"Do you need help with that?" Reason asked, as Sam struggled, to get inside.

That was when the women entered the living room. "Here, let me take the boys." Hannah offered, hurrying towards her husband and taking the hardest leads.

"Thanks." Sam told her, "So where do you want it?"

"Here's fine." Reason told him.

Sam sat it down, and it was soon joined in a small pile of presents wrapped in paper.

"Okay, which on do you want to open first?" Reason asked.

Maudie reached out and pointed to the largest package, one of the two Sam had brought.

"Okay." Reason said, pushing it towards her and helping her start the tear.

"She is going to be so confused when they do this again in a couple of days." Alex whispered to the group.

Maudie got a large swath of a paper off the package, revealing a picture of large pink dollhouse, with a green roof and what looked like green balcony. As Serena Joy looked on, it reminded her of the _Dream House_ she and her sisters had shared as a kid.

"Fank you." Maudie said, then asked, "What this?"

"It's a doll house, baby." Reason explained.

"Fank you." Maudie repeated, going to Sam and hugging his leg.

"You're very welcome." Sam replied, leaning down and hugging.

When all was done, Maudie had the dollhouse and a Strawberry shortcake doll, a set of outfits for her baby doll, which she was playing with more now, an orange piggy bank with antlers, a plush creeper bank, and coloring book.

They let the kids play for a while. The doll house had an elevator and all three of them were fascinated by it, seeing what they could make fit on the platform and making it go up and down, up and down.

"Yeah, she's gonna run that battery down." Reason commented, "You really didn't have to, guys."

"We wanted to." Hannah told her. Besides, they had actually found the doll house at thrift store. Sam opened the box when no one was looking to make sure it was in good condition. After a beat, Hannah changed the subject. "Reason, can I make an observation."

"Sure." Reason told her, not sure if she wanted to hear whatever the observation was.

"You don't—seem happy to be going back home." Hannah declared.

Reason sighed. "It's not that I don't want to go to my parents it's just—they literally had a memorial _Facebook_ page trying to find me. People ran Kit out of town and Avery turned him into a eunuch. All because I couldn't own up to –well, you know. How—how do I face everyone after that."

"They don't—they don't know about Avery." Hannah try to console her my minizine it, then she realized, "That's not helping, is it?"

Reason shook her head. "Thanks for trying tough." She knew Hannah had meant well.

"Maybe you could tell them you can't come." Hannah suggested, "I mean, you _do_ have a small child."

"When I was Maudie's age, I'd been back in froth in an airplane at least two dozen times." Reason told her, "Dad was in seminary out of state. No, I have to face them sooner or later."

Hannah wrapped her arms around the girl. "It's going to fine. Remember, whatever happens, you have people back here who love you."

That actually made the mom feel a little better. "Thanks, Hannah."

They managed to tear the kids away from the toys long enough for Maudie to pick what she wanted to bring. They packed the new toys, except for the doll house, her dolls, her seal and Nessie.

"Okay, I think we did it." Reason declared, zipping up the back pack. She threw it over her back, then put the diaper bag on her shoulder. "Thanks for all the helps guys."

Alex walked up to her. "Ah, before you go, one more thing." She pulled out something square wrapped in green paper.

"Y-you didn't—" Reason stammered, taking the package.

"I wanted to." Alex assured her, "I figured you could use it. Go ahead open it."

Reason tore the paper off, revealing the black day planner. "Thank you. I love it."

The pair went in for a hug. "Let us know when you land, okay?" Alex requested.

"Okay." Reason agreed.

Fifteen minutes later Reason was standing in a long line at the airport terminal with Maudie in her arms. "Mommy, how much longer?" Maudie asked.  
"Just a little, bit, baby." Reason said, bouncing her gently up and down and looking a head of the line, thinking she might have lied. "Hey you want to play a game? I spy with my little eye something you don't see."

"Is it big?" Maudie asked.

Reason's eyes darted around the room, because, she hadn't actually picked something out yet. She was just trying to keep Maudie from getting too fussy. Suddenly, she got an idea. "Yes?"

"Is it big as me?" Maudie asked.

"Bigger." Reason told her.

"Is it big as Mommy?" Maudie asked.

"Even bigger." Reason answered.

"What color is it?" Maudie question.

"Clear." Reason responded.

Maudie paused for a moment with baffled look. Suddenly she got her own idea. "Is it the window?"

Reason grinned. "Yeah, good job, Maudie. Now it's your turn."

The pair took turns until at last they got to the front of the line. "Okay, Maudie, that's enough for now. Mommy's gotta get the ticket's out." Reason told her, pulling the tickets out of her jacket.

The next part was one of the parts Reasons had really been dreading: Security.

Reason hadn't actually had been on a plane in years, well before Maudie was born, but she knew they had strengthened measures. Although, some of stuff she found online preparing for the trip scared her. Especially the part about how, during random test, government agents posing as passengers were able to sneak weapons through surciety anywhere from 80 to 95 percent of time.

Reason would be more comfortable if that was the number of times they were found. It didn't help the security measures were scaring her daughter.

It probably wasn't the security that was scaring her as they hadn't even reached the x-rays yet, but the noise, and the intensity and the people in uniforms going down the row. She also didn't like having to take off her shoes.

"Mommy, I'se don't like it here." Maudie told her, burying her face into her chest, "Wanna go home."

"It's just a little bit longer Maudie, I promise." Reason assured her, botching her up and down.

Just then a guard came down the row with security dog.

"Doggie!" Maudie shouted, trying to reach for it.

"No, no, baby, that's dog's working." Reason told her quickly, keeping tight hold of her, "It's got a vest, see?"

"Oh." Maudie responded, "Sorry, doggie."

Finally, after what felt like forever, they made it to the front. "I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I've been on a flight, do I just put my carry-ons in this thing?" Reason asked nervously.

The security person at that point, a man roughly the same age as Sam, looked at her like she was idiot. "Yes." He said slowly, "You put the bags there."

Reason got the dipher bag off, then sat Maudie down, slipping the lead of the harness around her hand. Taking off her back pack, she put it on as well.

"Mommy, what's that do?" Maudie asked.

"It makes sure our bags are okay, baby." Reason told her.

Maudie got her befuddled look. "Why wouldn't they be okay?"

Before Reason could try to explain, the security said, "Your bags cleared. Please don't hold up the line."

After stumbling through the surcity exercises, Reason took collected her carry ons from a plastic bucket feeling a little dazed. Maudie hadn't cared for the process either, and looked as put out as her mother felt. "What happens now, Mommy?"

Reason pulled herself together and confidently pointed to the boarding area. "For now, we're going to sit with those people and then we'll sit and wait for someone to tell us our flight is going to board."

Maudie looked confused. "Mommy, why them people? Are they goin' to the same place as us?"

Reason opened her mouth then closed it, taking a moment to think. "They're going on the same plane as us, and will go to the same airport. Once we get to the airport, then we will go to different places." She knew she had to be careful with her words because a three-year-old's thinking was very concrete, and there was a chance she could assume they were all going to her grandparents'.

"Oh." Maudie responded. After a moment, she added, "I'se hungry."

"Well," Reason began, "Let's see if we can find something to get for lunch."

Thirty-five minutes and the world's most expensive happy meal later, their group was called to board. Reason picked Maudie up to get on the plane and the child gave her an uncertain look.

"It's okay baby." Reason told her as she showed the people their passes, "Mommy's going to be sitting right by you the whole time."

They got to their seats. "Which seat do you want?" Reason asked Maudie.

"The window!" Maudie chimed happily.

Reason smiled, happy that Maudie was back in good spirits it appears. "Okay, window seat it is."

She sat Maudie down and got her settled, before stowing the carry ons, "Okay baby girl, what do you want from the bag?"

"Coloring book." Maudie requested.

Reason handed her a coloring book and crayons and took down the _Storybook Bible_ and a couple of dolls for when she inevitably got tired of coloring. When she finished, she set down, just as a primly dressed elderly woman sat down next to them.

Finally, they got off the ground. As they went up in the air, Maudie looked down out the window. Seeing the ground get further and further away scared her. She leaned over, clinging to her mother. "Mommy, I don't like the window seat anymore."

"Then we can switch when they tell it's safe to get up." Reason told her, pulling her into an awkward hug.

"When'll that be?" Maudie asked.

"I don't know, baby." Reason admitted.

"Mommy, sing." Maudie requested.

" _Lord, I have a heavy burden, of all I've seen and know. It' more than I can handle…"_ Reason began.

Maudie shook her head. "Rest song."

Reason knew what she was talking about, " _I am the sea on a moonless night. Calling, falling slipping tides. I am the leaky, dripping pipes. The endless, aching drops of light. I am the raindrop falling down. Always longing for the deeper ground. I am the broken, breaking seas. Even my blood finds ways to bleed…_

After they were permitted to move around the cockpit, Maudie crawled up into Reason's lap and continued coloring for about an hour and a half before she got bored. "Mommy, I'm bored."

Reason glanced over to the woman next to them and found she had head phones and was reading a book. "How 'bout I read to you?" Reason asked.

Maudie nodded.

Reason opened the _Storybook Bible_ to where they had left off, "He's here! Everything was ready. The moment God had been waiting for was here at last! God was coming to help His people, just as he promises in the beginning…."

By the time Reason was done with that section, Maudie had fallen asleep on her lap. After she woke up Reason took her to the bathroom and then she played with her doll, then went back to coloring. By then they started to descend.

The sudden changed startled Maudie, who buried her face into Reason's chance. "Mommy, what's happening?"

"It's just the plane landing." Reason told her, "That means we're there." She started bouncing Maudie up and down and singing, "I'll be waiting, anticipating. All that aim for. What I was made for. With every heartbeat, even by blood bleeds…"

After the plane landed and they dismounted, Maudie wanted to walk so Reason slipped the lean of her hardness over her hand.

"What now, Mommy?" Maudie asked.

"Now, we look for Grandpa." Reason said, peering out at the sea of people, "He said he'd meet us here."

The pair looked out and Maudie spotted a man holding a sign. "Grandpa!" She squealed running to him, only to be stopped by the end of her hardness.

Reason looked at the direction her daughter was running, and saw her father, holding a sign with her name on it.

"Dad!" She called out walking up to him.

Her father smiled, leaning in to hug both his daughter and granddaughter.

 **AN: Two things:**

 **First off, sorry about this is late but this time I have a good reason: I graduated this weekend! (Finally! Here comes the hard part, right?)**

 **Secondly, someone had a good write-in name, so I'm adding it to the list of possible names: Grace.**

 **So now, the choices are Grace, Mary, Marie, Caroline, Coraline, Raquel, Jaqueline, or Clarice .**


	79. On This Winter's Night

**AN: I do not own Cloverton's "A Hallelujah Christmas" or Idina Menzel and Michael Bubble's cover of "Baby It's Cold Outside". Also, obviously I still don't own** _ **Supernatural.**_

 **Also, early Merry Christmas everybody!**

Hannah didn't feel like getting out of the bed that morning. It was soft and warm and smelt like Sam. She inhaled soaking in the cloves of his after shave.

She was sleeping more. Was _needing_ sleep more. Maybe not as much as your average human, but at least two or three hours a night, sometimes more. Especially if she was dreaming.

Sam walked back into the room and leaned over Hannah gently shaking. "Honey, I've stalled as long as I can. The kids have figured out it's the day before Christmas and we have a doctor's appointment in half an hour. "

Hannah rolled over, stretching. "I had dreams last night." She told him.

Sam stood there, leaned over her. "You've been dreaming?"

"Sometimes." Hannah told him.

"What have you been dreaming about?" Sam asked.

"About the her." Hannah told him, weaving her hand into his, "About the baby."

Intrigued, Sam monetarily forgot that they had a deadline. "What does she look like?"

"She looks a little different everything." Hannah told her, "One time she has your smile, the next she'll have mine. Sometimes my noise, sometimes yours."

Sam chuckled. "That poor kid." It wasn't that he thought he had a bad noise, he just wasn't sure how it would look on a feminine face.

"I like your nose." Hannah responded, "Sometimes her eyes will be brown, sometimes blue. One time she had one of each, what's that thing called again?"

"Heterochromia." Sam answered.

Hannah opened her eye mouth, sighing. "Heterochromia."

Meanwhile Rawls walked back up to his apartment, with a small purple carrier in his hand, that was currently mewing. Or rather, what was inside it was mewing.

"Sssh." He hissed, putting a finger to his lip, "You're going to get us caught."

The tiny Sealpoint Siamese mix inside the carrier just stared at him.

Rawls didn't know who he though was going to catch him. Serena Joy was at work. And didn't live in his building. He guessed he was just nervous. He wanted this to go perfect.

After looking through his peephole in case Elsbeth was seeing a client, he saw everything was clear, the girls playing with their dolls in the floor while Elsbeth cleaned her brushes, Rawls opened the door. "It's alright, it's me."

The girls looked at the carrier curiously as he walked past with the carrier. "What's that?" Scarlet asked.

Rawls circle back and sat the carrier down on the coffee table. "This," He began, opening the carrier and carefully pulling out the kitten, "Is what I'm getting Miss Serena for Christmas."

The girls oohed and awed at the kitten.

"But I thought you were getting that backing stuff?" Venessa asked, looking perplexed.

"Yes, I am, but," Rawls began, "I got this because I'm going to use it to ask her to marry me."

Meanwhile, in Missouri, Maudie was sitting on the bench by her Grandmother's vanity, as a woman who sort of looked like her Mommy but older, with slight wrinkles around her eyes, her pale blonde hair done back in a lose bun, put something clear and slick and nice tasting on Maudie's lips.

"There we go." Francis McCarthy declared in English accent, satisfied with her work, "Pretty as a picture." She stood off and started working on her hair. "Now, just give Grandma a few minutes and we'll go meet your Great Grandma."

"What's a Great Grandma?" Maudie asked.

Francis thought a moment. It had been a hot minute since she had to explain something to a toddler. "She's your Grandpa's Mum."

"Grandpa's Mommy?" Maudie asked.

"Mmm-mmm." Francis nodded.

"What about your Mommy?" Maudie asked.

Francis froze. "Well, me and my Mum, you see," She began to sit down, "We don't exactly get on…"

Francis Edwards McCarthy came from a family of Atheists. Like, the kind of Atheists that try to convert everyone they meet by belittling and mocking them. They also had sense of British superiority that would seem more in pace during the America Revolution. Needlessly to say, they did not take kindly to Francis converting and eloping with a Yank Missionary. She and Joshua had tried to make it work, but her family had made it plain over the year that had no desire for any kind of reconciliation.

"Oh, Grandma." The toddler lamented, wrapping her arms around her waist.

Francis leaned in, hugging her back. "It's alright, love. I learn to deal with it a long time ago." He put her hands on either side of Maudie's face, "Besides, I have your Grandpa and your Mummy, and your Aunt Ester and a couple of good friends that are like family."

Still Maudie thought if she didn't get on with her Mommy, she'd be very sad. "I love you Grandma." She told her.

Francis kissed Maudie on the forehead. "I love you, too, sweetheart."

Back in Lebanon, the Winchesters had just finished with their appointment. The baby was fine, but Hannah was slightly aminic, apparently. Nothing liver once a day wouldn't fix. Also, _no_ heavy lifting now, not even the boys.

As everyone went back inside, Sam couldn't shake feeling of the being watch, so he turned around, one hand ready to take out his gun. Yes, he still went everywhere armed.

"Sam?" Hannah asked, turning around, when she realized he wasn't following them in.

"I'll be in a second." Sam assured him, "Just need to check on something."

Sam created forward, pulling the gun out as he got closer to the trees by the side of the bunker. Suddenly a figure stepped out behind the trees and Sam realized it was their new angelic associate.

"Dammitt, Tabbris!" Sam snapped as they both let out breaths, "What are you trying to do? What are you even doing here? I thought you already had your 'monthly check in'." Sam honestly wasn't sure how he felt about the idea, but with the de aging out there now, it kept the other angels off their backs, and their other secret safe. Plus, Tabbris was the only who had information about Nephilim pregnancies that didn't come from a book. Well, not the only one, but Abigail wasn't exactly reaching out to anyone and after what she had to Sam last time, he was fine with that.

"I did, but—" Tabbris began awkwardly, then just came out with it, "I finally got into contact with Abigail face to face actually, and I—I did something I probably shouldn't have—I told her you're having a girl, but she—" He pulled out a little bouquet made of pink flowers and something that reminded Sam of a dandelion, gone to seed, surrounded by green leafy plants and tied up in a while lacy doily with a pink ribbon. Sam took with a perplexed look on his face as Tabbris explained, "It's, ah, the traditional nosegay for a new baby girl. Making nosegays, it's, ah, a hobby of Gail's. Or at least it was, she hadn't really made any since…since…." It took him a minute to get it out, "Since Jane died. Unless she makes one to put on her grave." He went solemnly quiet.

Sam just stared at him a moment, pity strolling through him. Pity and a bit of fear that he couldn't quite place. "Hey, ah, you want to come in for little bit?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly— "Tabbris began.

"You came all this way to deliver flowers." Sam countered, "I think you can."

Meanwhile, at a dive bar in the Florida Keys called the _Green Light Tavern,_ Oliva Keaton was scrubbing the bar. The place was relatively quiet for the day before a holiday, the only patron currently an old drunk who hadn't aged well, wrinkled and age spotted, with only a few wispy white hairs on his head.

"Any big plans for the holiday, Livy?" Old Mike asked, before taking another gulp of his beer.

"Just me and my sister." Oliva told him, continuing to clean.

"Abby's in town?" Old Mike asked.

"You know she hates being called, Abby, "Oliva reminded him, not looking up from her work, "Always has."

Just then there was crash from upstairs, causing Oliva to freeze. "Cecelia, would you mind coming out here for minute while I go check on something?"

Back in Lebanon, Rawls was trying to get a collar around an uncooperative kitten.

"Come on, little guy," Elsbeth said, as the kitten ran away from him, "I just need to put this collar around your neck. It's not gonna hurt."

"I don't think cats have collars." Scarlet told him.

"Some do." Rawls said, "And _need_ this one to let me but it one him before he meets his new mom."

Elsbeth leaned down and picked up the kitten. "Here." She said, holding the squirming bundle in her hand.

"Thanks, Els," Rawls said, fastening the little blue collar.

"Are you sure she's even going to want a cat?" Elsbeth asked, wondering if Rawls had thought this proposal through.

"So long as she can make it stay off the counter." Rawls said, "Her family always had cats when she was a kid, and she's been thinking about it on and off, but wasn't sure she had the time." She poked the cat's noise, "Maybe after tomorrow, she'll have help."

The cat meowed in response.

"I think he's mocking me." Rawls declared.

At the bunker, Tabbris was explaining the significance of the flowers in Abigail's bouquet to the Winchesters.

"And the rue is supposing to represent grace." Tabbris explained, "I guess because human women are suppose to be graceful, I don't know. Abigail always had a better grip on this than me."

"What's that puffy flower mean?" Dean pipped up.

"This?" Tabbris questioned, pointing to the danilion seed head.

"Mmm-mmm." Dean nodded.

"That is a dandelion seed head, and it sympilizes that wishes come true." Tabbris told him.

Just then Sam's computer went off.

"Sorry, that might be important." Sam excused himself, beginning to walk off, "Feel free to keep this conversation going without me."

Hannah took the bouquet from Tabbris, looking at a perplexed stared. "I still don't understand how a flower can have meaning."

"The language of flowers uses to be a very big things back in Victorian times." Tabbris told her, "They had flower dictionaries to explain a bouquet's meaning. Roses usually resented love, unless they were yellow then that meant a decrease in love or even infidelity. Daises meant innocence. Ivy leaves meant fidelity. Dark blue gentians meant 'you are unjust'."

"How do you know all this?" Hannah asked.

"Gail told me pratically everything about it when we were—" He glanced at the twins and lowered his voice, "Together." In regular tone he continued, "Girl was obsessed. Something dawned on him and pulled out a bouquet that was so old the greenery and flowers were withered and the lace was yellowed with time. "She made this one right before we met." He sat the nosegay town on a nearby table and leaned towards Dean, who was closer to him, "May I?"

Hannah covered Cas' ears and nodded.

"She and her friends got it in their heads to try this Coptic angel summoning ritual one of them found in a book." Tabbris explained, once the little ears were safe, "Apparently it's the bouquet you make to honor a special guest."

Hannah did the math and titled her head. "You kept a bouquet for 27 years?"

"Thirty, actually." Tabbris corrected her, "Jane didn't come until a couple of years later." A little pain slipped through as he admitted, "I still have that bouquet too."

Hannah started thinking several things at once, none she could say out loud now, even with the boys covered. That she was sorry he lost his child. She couldn't even begin to imagine that kind of hurt. But also, on a different track, she got the inkling that even though they weren't together, he still loved Abigail.

It was at if Hannah had lost her words. Not knowing what else to do, she took him hand, trying to give him some sort of comfort. That when she felt a swift kick to her liver, causing her to let go.

"Are you alright?" Tabbris asked, concerned.

"Yeah, she just kicked." Hannah explained, then she looked up to him, "Do you want to—"

"Oh, no." Tabbris declined, "I couldn't possibly." He knew Abigail had never been comfortable with the whole people touching her belly to feel the baby move thing, especially when they were strangers. He and Hannah had only encountered each other a handful of times.

"It's alright, the boys spend half their day now with their hands on my stomach just wanting for signs of movement." Hannah told him, "It's what they'd probably be doing now if I was sitting."

Tabbris tentivley but his hand on her belly, just in time for another kick. "Hey there." He greeted, "You're going to be just fine, kid. You got a great family here."

Dean jumped up, trying to reach his Mom's stomach. "I wanna feel it!"

"Me, too!" Cas added, jumping, giving his wings a little flap.

Hannah smiled, taking each child by the wrist and guiding their hands.

Meanwhile in Florida, Oliva hurried upstairs to her little apartment avoid the bar and found a trail of seemingly random things. A dried-out Christmas bouquet of pine, cinnamon, burnet, rosemary, bedstraw, holly berries, rose and little cones. A green paper back copy of _Lucy_ by Laurence Gonzales. A Passenger CD. A child's pair of scuffed up tap shoes. A soft blue stuffed bear in a matching dress and bow headband. A collection of little animals, most small enough to fit in a palm of a hand, a brass looking donkey, a little craved Maplewood bird, one wing clearly glued back on, a porcine unicorn with felt lining the bottom, a fuzz covered fawn, a little stone angel dressed in rose garland, a roughly molded clay pig, a castle, a gargoyle sitting on a rock, one of those little _Chick fil a_ cows with its poorly spelt pleas. Crystal purporii in green and dark green strone across the room. All leaving to Abigail, the upper half of her body hidden in a cedar trunk.

"Abs?" Oliva began confused, utterly perplexed and more than a bit concerned, picking up the bear, "Why did you do this to Janie's things?"

Abigail raised her body out to the chest. "There was this hunter I met while I was pregnant. Wound up telling him everything. He thought I was nuts, but he gave me his number all the same in case I needed anything. He thought I was completely nutting, but he gave me his number in case I ever needed help. When Jane moved out to California I have it to her. He saw what it was like. If Sam won't listen to me, maybe he'll listen to one of his own. If I can just—I can just find the number—"

"Abigail, look at me." Oliva insisted, taking her sister's face in her hands, "Look at me. This couple? Sam and Hagar or Hepzibah or whatever her name was…they're not you and Tabbris. Their child is not Jane. Didn't you said they were living in a place that messed up angels' senses? That you had to go to a physic just to get the general aera they were in? No one knows about this baby, except a handful of people."

"No one knew about Jane either." Abigail countered, "They still found her. They still _killed_ her." She silent for a moment, trying to composure herself, "They're having a girl, too. They're having a…a little girl and she…she doesn't even have a real mother."

"Abs, you know that's not true…" Oliva began, trying to claim her sister down.

"No, it is!" Abigail cut her off, in hysterics, "That—that _thing_ is just pretending."

Oliva let go of her sister and picked up a clay pig, causing it to rattle. "You see this?" She asked, rattling, "Tabbris made this while he was looking for you. It barely looks like what he meant it, but he tried. And he looked for you, same as I did. And at least he managed to find you. He made sure that even if he couldn't be there, he knew where you were. Because he loved you, because he loved _Janie,_ and he hadn't even met her yet! I'm not saying he was the perfect father, he was far from it, I can't even say he there when it counted, because he wasn't always. But he did his best. His abilities to feel, his ability love, maybe their flawed. But that doesn't mean it's not there at all. And it's the same with this angel."

Abigail was silent for a long moment, then looked her sister dead in the eye. "You know, by that logic Uncle Russ should've just let Dad keep us."

Oliva looked down, taking a deep breath, before staring Abigail in the eye. "You know, I oughta slap you for that. I really should. But because you're going through some stuff right now, I'll give you a pass. "She leaned down and started gathering up crystal chunks, "Now, I have to get back down stairs, so let's just get this cleaned up."

In Missouri, an elderly woman in blue dress with a white lace shawl thrown over her, her pure white hair pulled back in a bund, was sitting out a vintage apple green coffee service on her coffee table. The door rang and she ran to answer it and found her son and his family standing there. Including someone she hadn't seen in far too long.

"Reason Joanna McCarthy!" Maud McCarthy explained, trying to sound stern, but there was still tears welling up in her eyes.

"Grandma, I am so sorry." Reason began, "If I'd known—"

Maud threw her arms around the girl. "Never mind that now. "She pulled back, "Did you bring her?"

Reason picked up Maudie. "Baby, this is your Great Grandma Maud."

Maudie smiled and gave her a wave. "My name's Maud too, but everybody calls me Maudie."

Maud smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Maudie."

Five minutes later, they were all in Maud's drawing room, sitting with cups of coffee and Maudie sat in the floor playing with her dolls and an old pink Jasperware tea set Maud had brough down.

"What I still don't understand is, how you got all the way to Kansas?" Maud was saying.

"I just keep riding the bus until Maudie was born." Reason answered, satisfied that the child was sufficiently distracted, "Then, ah, a very nice waitress got me a job at the diner, and the rest was more or less history."

"Well, at least you're back now, at least." Maud responded, "I know it's the holidays, so no one's really calling but have you found anything?"

The family exchanged looks. "I, ah, I thought you told her." Reason said.

"Told me what?" Maud asked.

"Mom, Reason isn't moving back to town." Joshua told her, "She's staying in Lebanon."

Maud looked absolutely shocked.

"Grandma, I've made a life there." Reason justified, "I've set down roots, literally everybody Maudie knows is there. I—I start trade school in the spring."

"Trade school?" Maud repeated.

"You know how I've always been kinda good at cars?" Reason began, "Well, ah, this friend of mine, Sam, he helped me get my GED and I start school for mechanics this fall. I know, not very ladylike."

"Well, maybe being lady like is overrated." Maud said, before taking a sip of coffee.

Reason dropped her cup on her saucer not to believing her old world mannered, _very_ proper lady grandmother had actually said that.

"So, this 'friend' Sam…" Maud began.

"Thirty-one, married to one of my best friends, who is currently cooking kid number three." Reason cut her off at the past.

Back in Lebanon it turned out the person who had video called Sam was Annamaria, who was calling to check in after the appointment.

 _I'll send pills to help the amenia._ She wrote out, _But the liver should work just as well._ After taking writing some more, she sifted subjects. _We need to start talking about a setting a solid due date. I need to be able to consult with Dr. Robert. I don't care what time it is. Wake me up. I have good go pills._

Sam wrote back _I can never tell if you're joking or not._ Sam only knew Latin for spell work, and didn't speak it conversationally, so they usually exchanged notes back and forth.

 _I don't joke about my botany or my medicine from my botany._ Annamaria wrote back to him. _If I say I have it, I have it._

Sam smirked. _Okay noted._

Just then Hannah walked into the room. "Is that—"

"Yeah, I, ah, probably should have got you in here earlier." Sam admitted, "Honey, is it okay if Annamaria sets in the next doctor's visit, so to speak?"

"Preposizione." Hannah agreed, nodding so that Sam would get the point as she sat down.

"Ci sono stati nuovi dolori strani?" Annamaria asked.

"What's she saying?" Sam asked.

"She's asking if there's been any new, strange pains." Hannah explained before addressing Annamaria. "Avverbio."

Just then there was knock on the door as Sam's phone rang. "It's Charlie." Sam told them before answering, "Hey, Charlie."

"Hey, I'm here." Charlie told him, "Mind letting me in?"

"Sure." Sam replied, before addressing the women before them, "I'm going to go get Charlie, if you have things here."

Hannah nodded her agreement.

Sam went up the stairs and opened the door for his adopted sister. "How's Christmas Eve going so far?"

"Well, no one's called with any unexpected injuries and no one's in labor." Sam replied. When that earned him, a questioning look he explained, "Last year was a little—eventful. I'm -I'm glad you could make it, the kids are gonna love seeing you."

After their unexpected guest departed and they picked up Elsbeth's girls so she could cut a client's hair, the Winchesters, Charlie and the girls decided to swing by the nativity.

Taking Dory by the hand Cas lead her over to his friends from last years. "These are sheep." He told her confinately, reaching and petting one that leaned its head down, "They eat plants."

The sheep bleated.

"Hey," Cas began, "What that suppose to mean?"

"I can't believe he remembers that." Sam, who, while he hadn't been there himself, had been told all about last year's incident, commented.

"Well, he seems to only remember that part." Hannah replied.

"Ah, was in Oz this time last year, remember?" Charlie spoke up, "Anybody care to clue me in on what you're talking about?"

"Reason and I took the kids to this last year while Sam was dealing with something, and Cas thought the sheep tried to eat him until the pastor explained that sheep only ate plants." Hannah explained.

Charlie chuckled at that.

"And then Sam had to help and anqtuie dealing give birth in the pastor's office." Hannah added.

"It was an eventful night." Sam commented, "This year's been much more low key, all things considered."

Meanwhile, Rawls and Serena Joy walked into the latter's apartment, Rawls and Serena Joy were exchanging presents. Rawls pulled the wrapping off, revealing car-shaped decanter of blue colored cologne.

"It's fresh." Serena Joy told him, "I didn't even know they made those things anymore."

"Neither do I." Rawls said with a grin, "This –this is really awesome babe. I love it, thank you." He unscrewed the cap and tried it on.

Serena Joy leaned in for a sniff. Amber with bergamot.

"What are you doing?" Rawls laughed.

"I've had it for a month, I wanted to know if it still did its job." Serena Joy reasoned.

Rawls took a swing of Amaretto, then slide a large blue covered package over to her with another packed taped to it. She opened it, revealing series of measuring cups, spoons, rubber spatulas and knives, all decorated with flowers. "This is awesome, I love them."

Rawls kissed her on the cheek. "You don't know how good that makes me feel." _I just hope you feel the same way about what I got for you in the morning._ "Now open the other one."

"You really didn't half to get me two." Serena Joy told her, "Now I feel kinda—" She stopped when she saw what it was, "Idina Menzel Christmas CD?"

"You like her, right?" Rawls asked nervously.

"Yeah, I do." Serena Joy assured him, then her face lit up with a mischievous idea, "Hey go get my radio."

Rawls set up the radio on the kitchen counter, plugging it in, the Serena Joy handed him the CD and he put it in, the music beginning to play, and Serena Joy walked over to him and the pair began to dance. " _I really can't stay. Baby it's cold outside. I've got to go away. Baby it's could outside…_

In Missouri, Reason was as far away from the rest of the volunteers helping to set up from the orphan dinner. She was unfolding a chair when someone snuck up behind them said, "Long time no see." She leapt, startled, and turned around see a boy with black curls falling in his face, his eyes green except for a large chunk of his right eye, which was brown.

It took her a minute, but then she asked, "Jordon?"

"I heard they found you." Jordon beamed, his eyes going down to the toddler at Reason's feet, "They also told me, you had a ah…"

"Maudie." Reason cut him off nervously, "I have a Maudie." Crouching down, Reason introduced the boy, "Maudie, this is Jordon. We, ah, we use to sing together."

Maudie hide behind her mother's legs.

"Sorry," Reasoned apologized, "She's a little jet lagged and all the new surroundings is a bit much for her."

"It's okay." Jordan assured her.

"So, Dad says you're doing to solo tonight." Reason said, trying to make small talk.

In another corner of the room, an older woman with pure light gray hair surrounding her face was whispering something to a much younger woman, maybe he daughter. When Reason glanced over to them, she suddenly stopped, and her daughter shot her a harsh look as if to say, _Now look what you've done._

Jordan tried to get Reason to focus on him. "Hey, I think I could use some help in the kitchen…"

"Yes, please." Reason agreed, hurrying after him with Maudie.

At the naivety, Venessa, Scarlet and Dean were hovering over the baby. "It looked softer last year." Dean noted.

This year's "Virgin Mary" chuckled. "Well, last year we had a real baby, but this year, we didn't have a baby so we had to use a doll."

"Oh." Scarlet spoke up.

Sam was coming over when he heard someone ask, "Sam?"

He turned around to see Selene Macnab holding a buddle up Samantha Noel.

"Hey, Selene." Sam greeted, "What are you doing here?"

"It's someone's birthday today, and I thought it might be nice to Samantha the place she was born." Selene raised the baby arm for a little wave.

"Nice to see you again." Sam gave the baby a little wave back.

That was when Hannah came over with Cas and Dory and Selene's eyes flickered with recognition. She smiled a little mischievously as she said, "Well, you two got to work fast."

It took a couple of moments for them to realize what she was talking about. The baby bump was growing to the point that Sam's shirt didn't really hide it anymore. "You could say that." Sam responded.

"Cong rations." Selene smiled at them.

"Thank you." Hannah replied, just as Charlie came over with the rest of the children.

"Ah, Selene, this is my sister, Charlie, "Sam introduced, "Charlie, this is Selene, the woman I mentioned earlier."

Charlie's eyes widened for a moment in recognition. "Oh, that lady."

"Yes, _that_ lady." Selene replied.

"Sorry," Charlie apologized, "I wasn't hear last year, long story, so Sam had to fill me in on a few things, and that was kinda notable."

"No arguments there." Selene agrees.

Meanwhile, in Florida, Oliva was coming back up the stairs. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier…" She began, then realized she was talking to an empty room, her sister nowhere to be seen.

Running up to the bed she found a bqouet of borage, little-left basil, some kind of flower buds, a withered white rose, a red chrysanthemum, Queen Anne's Lace, primrose, and yarrow on top of a buttery blue piece of stationary. Picking up the paper, Oliva silently read, _I'm sorry for what I said. But I have to go find someone who can help me and what you said gave me an idea. I'll call you—Abigail._

Oliva lowered the paper and rubbed her face wearily. Then she did the same thing she did when her sister took off all those years ago when she was carrying Jane: Went to find a flower dictionary.

At Serena Joy's apartment, they young woman was guiding Rawls, who appeared to be drunk, over to the count.

"I didn't, I didn't think I drunk that much— "Rawls gorged, trying to pull away.

"Yeah, well, look like you're spending the night here." Serena Joy declared.

"Can you—can you call Elsbeth to let her know where I am?" Rawls requested as Serena Joy lowered him onto one of the loveseats.

"You're very pushy, you know." Serena Joy quipped.

"I'd like to think of it as opportunistic." Rawls quipped back.

Serena Joy smirked. "Alright, I'll call."

In Missouri, Reason was staying at herself in a mirror in the church bathroom, now with foundation, blush and finishing powder on her face, dressed in a smooth green wrap around dress that she kept tugging at as her Mom applied pins, because her body had apparently changed since last wore it, lost weight, but slight gain in the breast.

It didn't fit anymore.

Meanwhile, Easter was trying to comb out Maudie's hair, but the toddler wasn't cooperating. "I'm sorry." She insisted, "But we need to do this."

"No!" Maudie shouted, getting up and trying to run away.

"Hold on a second, Mom. "Reason said, running after her wayward daughter, "Maud—"

Maudie threw herself down in the floor, screaming, "I wanna go home!" She was tired, she didn't know all these people, and she missed her friends.

That was when Reason got an idea. "Come on." She said, picking up the still squalling child and walking out of the bathroom.

In the sanctuary, Jordan was helping the rest of the choir sit up for the Christmas Eve service when Reason walked in with a visibly upset Maudie. "Ah, be back in a minute." He promised, before hurrying down the row, meeting her halfway, "Hey, ah, what's wrong?"

"Not sure, but I think I have an idea." Reason responded, "Do me a favor?"

The Winchesters had dropped the girls back off at their parents and Charlie was playing with the boys while their parents made last minute preparations for tomorrow, when Sam's computer went off. "Sam?" Charlie called out.

Coming into the room just as the lab top pinged again, Sam went over and answered the call, revealing Reason's face. "Hi." Sam greeted her, pleasantly surprised.

"Hey," Reason replied, "Ah, someone wants to see you." She held up Maudie, who's tear stained face lit up.

"Mr. Sam!" She exclaimed.

"Hey, there, Maudie." Sam grinned.

"I missed you!" Maudie exclaimed, "I missed you, and I missed Devananda's, I missed you so, so much!"

Reason giggled. "And what's Miss Hannah, chopped liver."

"Oh, yeah, I missed her too." Maudie added.

Sam chuckled. "We miss you all here, too, Sweet Pea."

Maudie talked with the Winchesters from a good fifteen minutes before they had to go in for the service.

The Christmas Eve service began at five and went for about an hour, started with singing, a snort sermon, prayers, more singing, and finished off with another prayer. Also, during Christmas Eve service there was no childcare, so never so often you would hear a coo or a wail, or a little body crawling in the pews. Maudie, for her park, had found another child, a little boy of about five with light brown hair dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, that she kept trying to entice into the copy game. For his part, the little boy tried to stay in his seat, thought every now and then, when she moved, he would move.

Then Jordan stepped down from the choir.

Curious, Maudie turned around, sat down, curled up next to her mother and began to listen to their friend as the piano started to play:

 _I've heard about this baby boy_

 _Who's come to Earth to bring us joy._

 _And I just want to sing this song to you._

 _It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth._

 _The minor fall, the major lift._

 _With every breath I'm singing Hallelujah._

 _Hallelujah, Hallelujah._

 _Hallelujah, Hallelujah._

 _A couple came to Bethlehem._

 _Excepting child, they searched the inn_

 _To find a place for you were coming soon._

 _There was no room for them to stay_

 _So, in a manger filled with hay_

 _God's only son was born, oh Hallelujah._

 _Hallelujah, Hallelujah._

 _Hallelujah, Hallelujah…._

Later in the night, after Rawls was sure Serena Joy was asleep, he got up and used his key to let himself out, carefully locking the door behind him.

Running out to the parking lot of the complex, he saw a familiar minivan parallel parked in the front of the parking lot. Elsbeth opened the driver's seat door. "Edith's got the girls." She told him, first handing him the pet carrier, then a bag of food, and then a brown box, "You got everything covered here?"

"Yeah, I think this should keep us to morning." Rawls replied, "As long as the little guy can keep from waking everyone up, we can pull this off. Thanks, Els."

At the bunker, the Winchesters and Charlie were doing some late-night set ups of their own, filling stockings and putting prettily wrapped boxes into place.

"Okay, "Sam declared, baking up, "I think we got it."

There were enough chocolate chip cookies prepared by a certain pair of twin baking minions with the help of their parents, to be divided evenly three ways, except for one lone cookie setting on a plate. They stared at it, silently thinking, when Hannah snatched it up. "The baby wants it." She declared, before shoving it in her mouth.

Charlie smirked. "You owe us when you get here, little dudette." She told Hannah's belly.

Their mission completed; the trio went to their preventive bedrooms. The couple wrapped themselves around each other, Sam whispering into Hannah's temple, "Sweet dreams, babe." Before closing his eyes.


	80. The Last Christmas Without You

Sam was awoken that morning much like he was the first Christmas morning: By two toddlers bouncing on him.

"Daddy, wake up!" Dean exclaimed.

"Wake up!" Cas repeated.

"Up, up, up!" Dean chanted, hopping up and down between his two parents.

Sam let out of a huff of surprised, as he was unceremoniously jostled in the bed. "Don't look at me this time." Hannah told him, sitting up.

"Come on, come on!" Dean exclaimed, jumping off the bed, only to be grabbed up by Sam.

"Whoa, there, bud." Sam urged, "Easy there."

In her girlhood bed room, white walls decorated with pictures and posters, a shared dresser decorated with combs and figurines and costume jewels, Reason was woken up to a frustrated grunt.

She raised her head up, and looked across the way from her where Ester was sleeping. She looked in the bed next to her and saw her daughter was missing. "Maudie!" She called out, throwing the sheets off and running out of the room.

Maudie was walking back and forth across the top of the stairs, between the room where they were staying and her grandparents' room. That was where Reason found her. "Maudie, baby, what are you doing?"

"Looking for the tree." Maudie answered, sounding rather frustrated.

"Baby," Reason began, picking her up, "That's downstairs. "

"How do we get down there?" Maudie asked looking down the stairs.

"Same way we get downstairs at Dean and Cas' house." Reason told her.

Just then Ester, her hair pulled back in a braid dressed in pink pajamas, stepped out, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?"

"Christmas morning with kids." Reason answered, before heading downstairs.

Meanwhile, at Serena Joy's apartment, she felt herself being shaken awake.

"Serena," Rawls whispered, gently shaking his girlfriend, "Serena."

Serena Joy raised her head from the pillow, her long dark hair a mess. "What?"

"It's time to wake up." Rawls informed her.

"Don't want it to be." Serena Joy wined.

Rawls couldn't help but grin. "You don't have to want it to be morning, hon. Morning doesn't care how you feel about it."

"I know," Serena Joy moaned, raising up.

"And hey it's not just any morning." Rawls remined her,

"Right." Serena Joy responded, putting her feet on the floor, "Christmas." She started making a mental checklist of all the things they needed to do before they left the house. Gather the food, the presents, get them all loaded into the car…

Taking her by the hand, Rawls helped her up saying. "I think that if you go out there, you'll find something for you."

Serena Joy raised an eyebrow. The couple had exchanged presents last night.

"You'll see." Rawls assured her with a mischievous grin, "Come on."

At the bunker, Dean and Cas were tearing the sliver and blue wrapping off the biggest package. They boys had already found a couple of rubber duckies done up to look like dragons, and chocolate coins from "Santa", bubble mix complete with blowers, a small baggies of soft mints labeled "Peppermint Seeds" and another top. Now they had finally worked their way to the biggest package under the tree and were insisting on unwrapping it themselves.

They finally got the wrapping off. "It's a teepee!" Dean shouted, excited.

"Can we opened it?" Cas asked.

The three adults—Sam, Hannah, and Charlie, who had spent the night- exchanged looks. It wasn't as if they had anywhere else to go. "Sure, bud." Sam agreed.

Sam began unboxing the tee pee and setting it up. As the boys watched, Dean hugged himself saying "I love our teepee. I love our teepee…"

Trying to give Sam some piece Hannah spoke up, "Why don't you open Aunt Charlie's present while Daddy works?"

That got them distracted long enough to tear into two wrapped squares, revealing two plush things, one red and one dark blue with eyestalks, white cup like things on their heads, one arm that looked like a plunder, the other look like an egg beater.

"What're these?" Cas asked, picking up the blue one.

"That's a good question." Hannah responded, looking over at Charlie, wondering if she should be afraid.

"They're called Daleks." Charlie answered, "They're normally evil salt shakers but these two are very friendly."

Dean squeezed the red Dalek who called out "Ex-term-inate!" The child giggled.

It took more time than he thought, but Sam finally got the tee pee constructed at the base of the tree, where the boys happily ran into it, giggling.

"Something tells me that's gonna be the favorite of the day." Charlie commented.

In Missouri, Maudie was ankle deep in presents, from Santa, from Mommy, from Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Ester.

From Santa, she got a box of chocolates and a reindeer coin bank. From Reason she got plastic pink piggy bank with gray nose, gray ears, gray tail, "Peppermint Seeds" and stuffed white reindeer with the name _Biltizen_ on it. Her grandparents got her a plush Ana doll and a _Veggietales_ Gift Setwith plush Bob and Larry and a book in it. But Aunt Ester got her the best gift of all…

"Let it go, let it go…" Maudie talk-sung into the microphone that flashing blue and pink and yellow as it played Demi Lavatto's cover of "Let it Go". "Can't hold it back any more. Let it go, let it go. Mm and slam the door."

"You are officially banned from gift giving." Reason joked to her sister, knowing this gift was probably going to drive her nuts before Maudie got bord with it.

"Come on," Ester brushed it off, "She loves it."

As Rawls lead Serena Joy into living room, past the tree decorated with a pink ribbon topper with ribbons that went down it and retro ornaments in aqua, gold and pink, she could hear meowing and mewing from elsewhere in the house. "What?" She let go of his hand and headed for the kitchen, where she could see a medium-sized, unwrapped, brown box.

"That's your Christmas present." Rawls grinned

""No, it's not." Serena Joy responded in disbelief. Stopping in front of the box, she pointing, asking, "Is that a cat in there?"

Rawls nodded.

"Are you kidding me?" Serena Joy breathed. She had been talking about getting a cat but this was still unexpected. In fact, she still didn't quite believe this wasn't a prank. Stepping to the other side of the box, she asked, "What is this? Is it a cat?"

"Go on and look." Rawls responded.

Serena Joy leaned down, as if to open the box put stood up again asking, "What's in here?"

"Open it up." Rawls teased.

"I can't." Serena Joy protested good naturedly. Still, she leaned down, removing the top of the lid, revealing a little creamy colored kitten with brown nose area and paws. "Oh my God!" She moaned, covering her mouth, then putting her hands on her chest. "Is it ours?"

"Yeah." Rawls confirmed, nodding.

"Are you joking?" Serena Joy balked, still processing.

"No." Rawls denied.

Serena Joy looked back at the kitten, who looked right back up at her. "Hello." She cooed, leaning down and petting the kitten. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"It's a boy." Rawls answered.

"Did you actually do—" Serena Joy stammered out, looking up as she continued to pet the kitten, "I really don't know what to say."

"Well, it's our, this is our little Christmas present." Rawls got out.

Serena Joy just stayed there for a few moments, one hand on the yet to be named pup and the other over her mouth. Finally removed the hand from her mouth. "Oh my God." Looking up and still petting the cat, she asked, "Where did you get him?"

"Eh?" Rawls responded, not getting what was said, he was too nervous about what would happen next.

"Where did you get him?" Serena Joy repeated. Looking down at the cat, she repeated, "Hello," as she picked her up. "I'm shaking, I can't even pick him up."

"Let's bring him in here." Rawls suggested taking the little heartbreaker from his personal heartbreaker and walking back into the living room towards the tree.

"How long have you had this planned for?" Serena Joy asked, following him

"Long enough." Rawls grinned at her, his heart pounding faster in his chest. He set carefully sat the kitten down on the ground, where he began to sniff at his new surroundings.

Serena Joy knelt down next to kitten still in awe. "Oh my God." She gasped again, petting the little creature, "Hello."

"Pick him up, babe." Rawls told her.

Serena Joy needed no more prompting, scooping up the cat.

"You got a family now, cat." Rawls commented.

As she petted the cat Serena Joy looked up at Rawls, grinning. "Yeah, he does." She agreed," I just can't believe it. This is not real."

"It _is_ real." Rawls assured her.

Serena Joy continued to stroke the kitten, who lapped the love up.

Unable to keep it in any longer, Rawls said, "I think there's something on the collar, why don't you take a look?"

Serena Joy carefully adjusted the kitten and read what it said on the yet to be named kitten's tag. When she saw what it said, she was speechless. Overjoyed, but speechless.

"What's it says?" Rawls asked, his heart beating ninety miles a minute now.

"Will you marry me." Serena Joy answered, stunned.

Taking a white box from his pocket, Rawls got down on one knee and opened the book, revealing a beautiful ruby ring.

"Are you joking?" Serena Joy breathed, hopping he wasn't, clutching the kitten to her chest.

"I love you so much, babe." Rawls told her, "Will you marry me?"

"Oh, my gosh, yes." Serena Joy answered, rising up to kiss him, "This is not happening."

"It is happening." Rawls assured her. He started to fumble with the ring.

"Oh my God." Serena Joy beamed, covering her mouth for a moment, "I'm in my coffee nightie!"

"So?" Rawls grinned, finally getting the ring out. He carefully places it on her finger.

"Rawls, this is not happening." Serena Joy repeated in disbelief.

"It is." Rawls assured her, unable to wipe the grin off his face, taking her hand.

"Oh, my days." She continued, as he let go, getting up. She was still kneeling, holding the cat.

"Now you got your cat, your little ring, and your lovely coffee nightie." Rawls grinned at her.

"And I don't have any make up on as well." Serena Joy pointed out, smiling, but then covering her eyes with her hand. The hand with the ring on it.

"That's alright, you still look beautiful to me." Rawls assured her.

Halfway to the Winchesters, Alex laughed as she watched the video of Maudie Reason just sent her with her sister's phone. "That is so cute. Not bad for a three-year-old."

"I can't argue with that." Reason told her, when suddenly her own phone started ring. "Hold on, Lex, I think I'm getting a call." She picked up her phone. "Hello?"

"Rawls just asked to me to marry him!" Serena Joy exclaimed into the phone.

"What?!" Reason balked.

"Rawls asked me to marry him." Serena Joy repeated, slowly.

"And?" Reason responded.

"And I said yes!" Serena Joy confirmed, before letting out a happy screech.

Reason echoed her happy screech.

"Reason?" Alex, who was still on the other phone, asked, "Reason, is everything okay?"

Reason picked up the phone. "Yeah, yeah, we just had a little Christmas Proposal."

"That's wonderful." Hannah was saying on the phone with Serena Joy five minutes later, stepping out from the kitchen, not that there was much to get done because they just decided to save themselves some trouble and go with mostly cold finger food.

Sam stuck his head out. "What's going on?"

 _Rawls proposed to Serena._ Hannah mouthed.

"What?!" Sam balked.

In the main aera of the bunker, the boys were still hunkered down in the tee pee with their presents, the Daleks guarding the front.

Dean stuck his head out. "Any movement?" He asked, then squeezed the Dalek, making it shout its catch phrase again. "It says no."

"Who's we looking for anyway?" Cas asked, somewhat confused by their new game.

"For the enemy." Dean answered.

"What's an enemy?" Cas asked.

"Someone that's not your friend." Dean replied.

"How will we know when it sees the enemy?" Cas questioned.

"It'll tell us." Dean answered.

"Oh." Cas responded.

In the kitchen, Hannah was cutting vegetables when the baby started moving, furiously, so furiously she had to grab the table to steady herself. For a moment, she recalled a story Serena Joy told her about where a baby was so moved by the cutting of onions that she kicked herself out of her mother's womb. "But I was cutting radishes…" She protested aloud.

Seeing her distress, Sam came over asking, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, the little one just decided now was a good time to dance." Hannah explained, taking Sam's hand and putting it on her stomach so that he could feel the movement.

"Yeah, yeah, we got a little athlete in there. "Sam commented, "Yeah, yeah, she's going strong in there. What's you getting so excited for, little darling?"

Just as soon as it started, the baby stopped.

"I think she's had her little exercise session." Hannah declared.

"And you're sure you're alright?" Sam asked.

Hannah nodded. "She does things like this all the time." After a beat she added, "I'll be glad when this is over." Sometimes there was something oddly nice about being pregnant, like when she could feel her baby's heart beating inside her own skin. Other times, like when she was hanging over the toilet depositing whatever she had eaten in the last day, or the baby decided her mom's internal organs made nice punching bags, not so much.

Sam swallowed, trying not to be scared at the prospect of what the pregnancy being 'over' might mean.

"Sam," Hannah began, looking up at him, "All that means is that our baby with be here with us and her brothers, and wont send my body into spasms every time she gets restless."

Sam nodded, feeling guilty. He was suppose to be the confident one here. He was the one who suppose to be supporting her.

As if reading his mind, Hannah said, "You're still allowed to be human."

Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Ex-term-enate!" One of the Daleks called out.

"Enemy, at the gates!" Dean shouted, "Enemy at the gates!"

"No enemy." Sam said, heading for the stairs, "It's probably Miss Jody and Miss Alex." _Of course, we've had so many unexpected guests lately who knows?_

Sam opened the door revealing it was in fact, Jody and Alex. "Merry Christmas, guys." Sam greeted, as they exchanged embraces.

"Merry Christmas, Sam." Jody repeated.

"Charge!" Dean was shouting as Cas was just screaming, both of them armed with Daleks running towards the stairs until the realized who it was. "Miss Jody!" The called out, both running to her, hitting her legs.

"Hey, guys." Jody got out, the wind momentarily taken out of her.

Then the boys realized she wasn't alone. "Alex!" The squealed pulling at the girl, dragging her down the stairs. "Come see our teepee!" Dean requested.

"We have a teepee now!" Cas added.

"It's really neat!" Dean continued.

"We love it!" Cas declared as they pulled her down the stairs.

Meanwhile across town, three little girls were playing with the dolls and plushes they had received, while their Mom sat back in the kitchen watching with a cup of coffee, Edith leaned up against the counter with her guitar.

Dory put a glob of plastic green beans in front of the soft, stuffed baby leopard she had gotten from Christmas, then put plastic peas in front of Scarlett's new Barbie. She kind of liked this. She never actually got to spend Christmas with her sisters before.

Scarlet was sneaking a piece of chocolate. Venessa reached over and grabbed a piece herself before handing another to Dory. Elsbeth looked off.

"Edith, can you sing?" Scarlet pipped up.

Edith responded by beginning to strum her guitar. " _The snow is falling like I am for you. Hear the children singing one of our favorite tunes. Christmas trees, nativities. See the world in red and green…"_

Just the door opened revealing not only Rawls, but Serena Joy. Elsbeth stood up and both her and Edith , who had immediately stopped singing, turned to look at them. "Well?" Edith asked.

Serena Joy held out her ring finger with the glimmering ruby on it as Rawls declared, "She said yes!"

The room broke into squeals and hug.

That afternoon in Missouri, Reason was sitting a casserole dish of chicken stuffing casserole on the table.

Every year at noon, the crunch held an orphan dinner that Reason' s father as the pastor, had to oversee, which meant they came to pitch in. So far, nothing like Reason feared had happened.

At least until a tall woman with long brown hair walked her way, holding a mold of cranberry jell salad.

For a minute it sounded like the ocean was in Reason's ears, her heart started to bound and she felt like she might have another panic attack. She dropped the casserole dish and ran for it.

"Reason, wait!" The woman called after her, following her.

Reason didn't heed her, running through the back exit that was supposed to be used in emergery, with her pursuer right after her. She ran through the door and just like that, they were face to face.

"Mrs. Bennet, I am so sorry," Reason exclaimed, "I-I- "

"Why are you apologizing?" Mrs. Bennet cut her off, " _I'm_ the one who raised a Don Juan apparently. I should be the one apologizing to you."

"For what?" Reason responded, "You can't control what your son does. He's a grown man. And _I_ was the one that slept with him, it's not like I did nothing, anyway."

"You were a kid." Mrs. Bennet argued, "He knew what he was doing." She ran her fingers through her hair, bunching it into a ponytail before letting it go. "Anyway, that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about."

Reason was quiet for a moment. "I don't know where Avery is." She admitted, "Not for a certain. I do know that wherever she is, she's with group of girls that would die for her. Or kill for her, probably."

"Avery sends me post cards I'm good, more or less." Mrs. Bennet told her, "What I wanted to ask was—" She took a moment a get her bearings, "Can I please meet my granddaughter?

Maudie had found her friend from the night before, and the pair were happily playing copy while Jordan was watching them both while sitting out a buttermilk pie. That was when Reason and Mrs. Bennet came up. "Hey," He greeted them, "Reason, you remember my brother, Cyril."

Reason looked at the boy's eyes and saw it had the same chunk of brown Jordan had, surrounded by green. Cyril had been a change of life baby, and was just an infant and Reason ran away. "Oh, I don't believe it, how did I miss that?"

"Cyril, this is Maudie's Mom, Miss Reason." Jordan introduced them.

"Can I, um, can I talk to Maudie alone for a minute?" Reason requested.

Immediately realizing what was going on, Jordan good-naturedly pointed out, "She's your kid, isn't she?"

Reason picked her up, Cyril protested, "No!"

"It's alright, I'll bright her right back." Reason assured him, walking off with Maudie and Mrs. Bennet into the kitchen. She sat the girl down and said, "Maudie, there's someone I want you to meet." She gestured to the woman's mother, "This is Miss Bonnie."

Bonnie Bennet whipped the tears from her eyes. A more beautiful child she had never seen.

"Why are you sad?" Maudie asked innocently.

Bonnie crouched down so she was the same height as the child. "I'm not sad, sweetie. "Bonnie assured her, "But, um, if it's quite alright, can I hug you?"

"Okay." Maudie agreed, letting herself be pulled into an embrace.

At the bunker of spread of summer sausage and cheese, a veggie tray, a round of shrimp, _Ritz_ Crackers, Cream Crackers, a tray of cookies and a box of chocolates.

"Okay, it's ready." Sam announced, "I'll get the boys."

Just then Alex met him halfway, an awkward but somewhat amused smile on her face. "The boys, um, wanted to know if they could eat in the teepee."

Sam looked to where the boys were peaking out of the teepee. "Is there even enough room in there for that?"

"I don't know, but they _really_ want to try." Alex informed him.  
Hannah looked in on the boys. "What could it hurt?"

Sam gave in. "Okay, but they have come here to get their plates and at least try everything on it."

"I'll let them know you have a deal." Alex agreed, before turning back.  
They boys got their food and went back to the text, Dean crawling with a plate, followed by Cas. They sat down and realized they were missing someone. Dean poked his head out and called out, "Alex!"

"I'm gonna eat in here, little guy." Alex called back.

"But we want you here!" Dean protested.

"Dean," Sam called back, "Alex wants to visit with the adults for a little bit, you need to let her." The girl had been entertaining the kids since she got there.

"Okay," Dean reluctantly agreed, pulling his head back in.

Shortly after that, as everyone in the double digits were chatting, Hannah looked over to the hall. "We haven't heard anything from them in a while. Should we be worried?"

Realizing she might be onto something, Sam stood up. "I'll got check."

However, just as he got up, both boys came marching into the kitchen with their plates. They walked straight up to their dad and Dean asked, "Um, can we have some more please?"

"Sure, bud," Sam answered, "Cas?"

Cas nodded.

Sam lead them back over to the table, taking Dean's place first, since it was closer to them. "Okay, what do you want?"

"I want um, some more carrots, and more of that pink stuff." Dean requested.

Sam furrowed his brow. "Pink stuff?"

Dean nodded, pointing at the shrimp round, that now had a chunk out of it.

"Ah," Sam responded and realization, taking a few prawns and putting them on the plate. "This good?"

"A little pinker stuff." Dean requested.

Sam put a few more pieces on the plate and handed it to him. Dean looked down at it. "More pink stuff please?"

Sam chuckled. "Finish what you got on your plate, then we'll see."

"Okay." Dean agreed, starting back towards the tent as Sam took Cas' plate.

"What'll be bud?" Sam asked.

"Carrots and green broch-li and white broch-li and radishes." Cas requested.

Sam put a little of all that on Cas' plate before handing it back to him, where he scurried back to the teepee, giving his wings a little flap.

That was when Alex asked a question she had been wondering at least once every interaction she had with Castiel, or at least once every interaction he had where he was able to expose his wings. "Is he ever actually going to be able to fly with those things?"

"To be honest, we're not entirely sure how it's going to work." Hannah explained, "There's never been any other angel like that, with corporeal wings, or baby angel, well, not one that was fully angel." She subconsciously placed a hand on her stomach, "They do seem to be growing along with him, the wings, I mean, and but they're still really downy, nothing much in the way of flight feathers."

"We've invested in a lot of books on bird development, it's the closest thing we've got." Sam said, his eyes subconsciously moving towards the main room of the bunker where he knew the boys were and he knew there were fans. "Say, Honey, did we do anything with the bubble wrap from the teepee yet?"

Later into the meal, the boys were munching on cookies. Dean finished his, then stretched. "I'se sleepy." He declared before curling up. Finishing up his own dessert, Cas curled up next to his brother, covering them both up with his downy wings and pulling Coat over them.

Five minutes later, five adults were silently peering into the tents, just watching the toddlers sleep, and Charlie and Alex disabled the flashes on their phone.

At the Johnson's lunch was a little put off as the women were currently distracted by a certain red rock on Serena Joy's finger.

"Oh, my gosh, it's so gorgeous." Priscilla Jean declared, "Lizze J, are you looking at this, are you looking at this?"

"Yes, I see it." Eliza Jane declared, calling back playfully to where Nick was sitting, "Well, I guess Rawls just loves S. J. more than you love me."

"Thanks a lot, buddy." Nick called over to Rawls.

"You know I'm just kidding." Eliza Jane told him.

"Why a ruby thought?" Norma Jean asked.

"Apparently they're rarer than diamonds." Serena Joy explained, remember Valentine's day and glad this time the proposal wasn't a mistake.

Reason, Easter and Jorden were finishing up the dishes, when the found of laughter drifted towards them.

Maudie ran in first, followed by Cyril, and then Bonnie. She managed to reach down, scooping up Maudie and spinning her around, making her giggle. "Hey, you want to tell your Mom what you told me?" Bonnie asked.

"Cyril and me are getting married." Maudie annouched matter of factly.

Reason suppressed a laugh. "Really? When did this happen?"

"A little while ago." Maudie answered.

Reason knelt down playfully so she Cyril's height. "Tell me young man, how exactly are you planning on supporting my daughter?"

"Huh?" Cyril responded, confused.

"She means are you gonna get a job to pay for houses and bills and kids and other things you have to deal with when you get married." Jordan explained.

"We're going to wait until we're big and then we'll get married." Cyril explained, "Yeah, that's my plan."

Reason giggled. "Fine with me. You have my blessing. But you better, _take care_ of her. Is that understood?"

Cyril nodded before running off.

"Thank you, Mommy," Maudie explained as Bonnie sat her down, running from the room.

Just then, Easter's phone went off. She looked at the text and smiled. "Look at the picture your friend just sent me. This is so cute."

Reason looked at the phone and seeing the picture of Cas and Dean asleep in their teepee, smiled.

After their nap and the opening of a few more presents from Jody and Alex, and ones Reason had left and Garth had sent, Dean and Cas was sitting around a (fabric) campfire with their new (stuffed) dog and the Daleks they had now tamed with jump rope leashes , and reindeer labeled _Donner_ and _Cupid,_ roasting (also fabric) marshmallows, while the adults visited more and Sam gathered all of the days bubble wrap.

"What's with the bubble wrap obsession all of a sudden?" Charlie asked, wondering if she should be worried.

"Baby proofing." Sam explained, putting the last of it in a box.

"But I thought we already took care of most of that." Hannah said, somewhat disconcerted, "And you told me we _couldn't_ bubble wrap them because they needed air."

"These aren't for wrapping the kids." Sam assured her.

Just then Cas walked up with a marshmallow. "Here Mommy." He handed her the marshmallow, "S'more."

"Why thank you." Hannah told him, pretending eat the "s'more."

"Hey, where's where our s'more?" Jody teased.

"They're comin'." Cas assured them, "Mommy's preggers, so she gets hers first." And with that, she walked off.

Everyone just stared at each other in shock, before erupting into group laughter. "Who taught him that?!" Hannah got out.

"Don't look at me!" Charlie managed in between bursts of laughter.

"Miss Alex!" Dean called out, "Help!"

"Coming guys." Alex declared, getting up, still laughing.

In Missouri, Reason, her parents, her sister and Grandmother, all dressed up, sharing a meal of roast duck and boiled potatoes on plates decorated with pine trees. At the end of the table near Maudie, Bob, Larry and Biltizen all got their own place setting, even if they didn't even have any food to eat with it.

As she ate, Ester phone went off again and she snuck a peak.

"Hey, what do we say about phones at the table?" Joshua spoke up.

"Blame Reason." Ester said, holding up another picture, "The twins love the deer by the way."

Reason smirked a bit.

"Also, someone wants to know what bubble wrap has to do with baby proofing?" Ester asked, bemused.

Reason looked down at the plate, then back up. "That makes sense if you know my friends. I swear."

That night, after everyone had left, Sam put his bubble wrap collection with the things they had gathered for the baby the baby in corner. A bag of clothes. Cloth dippers. Eileen's monkey. A stroller. A dipher bag that had accessories they didn't even know about stuffed in it. The baby swing Jody brough today alone with the boy's things. The wooden Dalek stacking rings Charlie brough today. They didn't have nearly what they needed yet, but they were working on.

Just then, two sets of little feet pitter pattered down the hall, and Dean and Cas appearing in their doorway.

"Hey, guys." Sam greeted him, "Where's your Mom?" He thought they were meeting to start getting the little guys ready for bed.

"She said she'd catch up." Dean asked, then he sat the stuff in the corner, "What that?"

"This is something we've been gather for you baby sister." Sam explained, "Maybe need certain things and we want to have it ready when she gets here."

"Can we look?" Cas asked.

"Sure." Sam agreed.

They waked over and look at the things in the corner. "She's got a Dalek, too." Dean noted, pointing to the stacking rings.

"Yeah, Aunt Charlie brought those for her today." Sam explained.

"But—she wasn't here today." Dean responded, confused, "She's still, in Mommy's tummy."

Sam crouched down. "She'll be here next year, and _you two_ can teach her how to tame it."

Just then Hannah arrived. "I miss anything?"

"Nope." Sam told her, "They boys were just looking at the supply corner."

Hannah sat down on the bed and the boys tried to climb the sides. He helped them up and each placed a little hand on her stomach.

"She's not very active right now." Hannah told them.

"Just in case. "Dean insisted.

"Merry Christmas, Baby Sister." Cas declared.

The parents exchanged glances and couldn't help but smile.

 **AN: Belated Merry Christmas and early Happy New Year everyone!**


	81. New Years Eve

Standing on a ladder as even he was not that tall, Sam successful tapped the last layer of bubble wrap to the fan blade. "How's yours looking, Charlie?"

Charlie was stepping down from her own ladder. "I just got this one done."

Hannah stood in the doorway, watching as the hunters meticulously wound bubble wrap over each blade of every fan, officially making it safe for all toddler angels and baby Nephilim.

"Mommy, what's Daddy and Aunt Charlie doin'?" Dean asked, perplexed as Cas just watched with his head tilted.

"He's making sure Cas and the baby don't get hurt when they start to fly." Hannah explained, as it had been explained to her.

"But I'se don't fly." Cas responded.

Hannah reached down as best she could and ran a hand through Cas' downy feathers. "But you will one day."

Cas squirmed uncomfortably. "I'se don't wanna fly."

This took Hannah by surprise. "Why not?"

Cas looked up at the ceiling. "It's scary."

Hannah picked him up and gave him a little cuddle. "I know it seems scary, but really, it's not. You might even like it."

"No, I won't." Cas insisted, burying his head into her chest.

"If Cas don't wanna fly, I'se can do it." Dean volunteered hopefully.

"I'm sorry, little one, but that won't work." Hannah tried, "You don't have wings."

"I can just use Cas' wings." Dean reasoned, "He won't mind. Will you, Cas?"

Cas shook his head,

"There sort of attached to him…" Hannah began, when she felt a now familiar queasiness well up inside her. Sitting Cas down she told then, "I'll be right back," running for the nearest bathroom.

As the sound of reaching filled the bunker, Sam stepped down. "I better go see about that."

"Go." Charlie agreed, "We got these guys."

Reason, holding Maudie, and Serena Joy were standing in the doorway. "How long has the morning sickness been back?" Reason wondered aloud.

"Just today." Charlie responded, stepping off the ladder and walking over to the girls. "Lowering in her voice she added, "What's more worrisome is what's started happening with her powers."

"Yeah, she told me about what happened last night with angel radio." Reason responded, "Poor thing."

What happened the night before was that she wound up tuned into some kind of meeting, and then there were a good deal of prayers while trying to sleep and couldn't get it turned off. Then when she tried to stop blocking nothing happened. Rather it was because there was just nothing going on at that time or if she was stuck blocking, she didn't know. Alarmed, she tried to read the boys' minds—normally she didn't as it was a bit of boundary issue, and she never, ever, read Sam's mind, she only did it this time as a test—and she couldn't.

"Is this normal?" Serena Joy asked, "Should be worried?"

"Dr. Robert's out of town, but they set up a rendezvous for Monday." Charlie told them, "But other than that, she seems okay, so we're hopeful."

After the girls finally had to leave, Charlie went back to work, keeping one eye on the boys, Dean walked up to. "Aunt Charlie, how come Cas and the baby gets to have wings and I'se don't?"

Charlie froze for a minute, not sure of what to do. "Ah…" Just then she was rescued by her phone going off. "Hold on a second, will you?" Charlie asked, picking up the phone, "Hello?"

"Charlie Bradbury?" A man's voice Charlie somewhat recognized but couldn't but her finger on asked tentively.  
"Ah, yeah." Charlie responded, stepping down.

"It's Cal, Cal Murdock." The man explained, "We worked that ghost case in Nashville a couple of weeks ago. You mentioned you were heading towards Kansas. You wouldn't have to be there now, would you? I need some help…"

"Are you sure you don't need me to come with you?" Sam checked for the fourth time as Charlie headed towards the door. He knew Charlie could handle herself, and she wasn't going to be on her own, but he didn't know Cal and that made him nervous.

"If things go sideways or we need more reinforcements, you'll be the first one I call." Charlie promised, "But you got a sick, pregnant wife, and twins that have rift possibly forming between them. I think you're needed here more."

"Rift?" Sam repeated, disconcerted.

"Dean seems to be a little jealous of Cas and little sister's wings." Charlie explained, holding up her fingers.

"Oh." Sam responded, "Thanks for the heads up."

Meanwhile, Abigail was walking down a busy street, the streets light shining down on her. She had to take a plane, two _Gray Hounds_ , hitch hiked and walked across a bridge, but she had made it. She turned the corner and walked towards the parking lot with a white brink and stucco building with a black tile roof and sign that read: _Saginaw Consignment._

In back room of the store, a young woman with long glossy dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes, was staring own at the contents of cup tea, now drunk, leaving only the leaves, while on the phone. "Yeah, it's corporal, whatever it is." She cocked her head, examining the leaf, "Also, it has an evil heart, I'd be careful if I was you." After a moment of the other person talking, she said, "I'm sorry, Greg, I am literally looking at symbols in wet leaves, it doesn't always give the whole story. Look, I'm getting some other signs here, maybe…I don't know Wendigo? Maybe. "Just then she heard the door open. "I think I got a customer, Greg, I gotta go. Good luck."

Bulling back a pale-yellow curtain that separated the back room from the rest of the ship, the young woman walked out, stopping when she saw Abigail. "Oh, it's you. Alice, Ada, something with A, right?"

"I take it that means you remember me." Abigail commented, thinking now wasn't a good time to be given her name out, even if it was just her first one. "Melanie, right?"

"Yeah," Melanie responded, "Any luck finding your girl?"

"We found her." Abigail answered, "But there was something else I needed your help with." She pulled a bundle of cash from her jacket. "I brought money, if that's an issue."

"Come back and we'll see." Melanie told her.

At the bunker and Charlie had left and Sam was walking back to the bathroom with a bottle of ginger ale. "How are we doing in here?"

"Nothing's happening but I still feel queasy." Hannah explained, clinging to the side of the toilet.

"Here." Sam offered, pouring a glass of ginger ale. Hannah took it with a grateful smile and began to slowly sip as Sam leaned down next to her.

That was when they heard the first cries of "Owie…. Owie…."

Both parents jumped up. However, Hannah went back down, bile trailing down her throat. "Go," She told him, "I'll catch—" She began reaching.

Sam ran down the hall to find Cas lying face first on the floor wings spread out, crying, "Owie! "

"Where's it hurt, bud?" Sam asked, crouching down.

"My wings!" Cas exclaimed, "They hurt and they're itchy!"

Sam bent down and carefully examined the appenges. The feathers were oddly dull, and the he noticed a small pile of them in the floor. Gently brushing them he noticed that there were feathers growing back in place, mostly more soft feathers, but at the very edge of his right wing, were two feathers that were bigger, courser and rougher than the rest of them.

Sam sighed. "Lovely."

Sam!" Hannah called out, desperate to know what was going on.

"I think Cas is molting." Sam called back.

Hannah stepped out of the bathroom. "Sam, that's—that's not a thing. Angels' wings aren't like bird wings, at least in that respect."

"Well they're also not normally corporeal." Sam pointed out, carefully gathering the little angel up in his arms.

"Fair enough." Hannah conceded, walking down to hall to see what they could do about this.

Filling up the tub, pulled out the economy size bottle of _Mr. Bubble_ bath, spirted some in in attempt to boost morale, also hopping a bath in general would sooth Cas' wings, before plopping the boys into the bath while Hannah's got the oil for Cas' wings. As the kids played with the dragon ducks from Christmas, Sam spirted some shampoo in his hand. "Okay, Dean," He began, "You're closest so you go first."

"Five more minutes? "Dean pleaded.

"You'll still have plenty of time to play." Sam assured him, beginning to lather the shampoo in Dean's hair.

As his brother was getting his head washed, Cas turned around and tried to starch his wings.

"Castiel, don't scratch." Sam told him, "It's not good for your wings and you could hurt yourself.

" But they're itchy!" Cas protested.

"But scratching will only make it worst." Sam told him, finishing with Dean and making it over to the angel in question.

Dean began to play with the ducks again, but then his tummy started to feel funny. Ignoring it as fist, he continued to play but funny feeling didn't go away. "Daddy, I'se don't think I'se feel good."

Sam turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"I think I'm gonna…I think I'm gonna…" Dean began, before leaning down and opening his mouth, a pile of hot vomit coming out of it.

Sam pulled Dean from the water, slick as a fish, silently wondering if at least two people throwing up on New Year's Eve was going to be a thing from now.

Ten minutes later, Dean was on the table at the walk-in client, Dr. Sinclair talking to Sam.

"It looks like a twenty-four-hour stomach virus. "She declared, "I'm writing him a prescription to help a little, but the best you can do is wait it out, ginger ale and crackers, _Pedialyte_ if he gets dehydrated and if goes over forty-eight hours, you bring him back here or to your doctor. "

"Right." Sam agreed, taking the prescription, "Thank you."

Meanwhile, at the base of a forest trail, a young man with short cut brown hair, dressed in varying shades of brown and blue jeans, was crouching outside of a brown truck, talking to a little boy about the same age as the twins, with mop of blown hair, dressed in blue jeans and a hand sewn purple and light brown checked shirt.

"You did good, little man." The man assuring him, "It's going to be okay; we're going to find her."

Just then Charlie's bug pulled up and the redhead got out. "Hey."

"Hi," Cal greeted her, then turned his attention back to the boy, "Jerod, I want to meet a friend of mine. This is Charlie."

Charlie crouched down. "It's very nice to meet you, Jerod."

"You have nice colors." Jerod complimented her.

"He's physic." Cal explained, picking the boy up, "Reads auras. Like his Mom." After a beat, he added, "Their cabin's this way."

"So, you found him on the side of the road?" Charlie recapped what Cal had told him on the phone.

"Little guy has no clue how he got there." Cal finished, "But Adele—" He lowered her voice in hopes the boy in his arms wouldn't pick up on what they were saying, "Adele wouldn't just leave him. Not like that. Something had to have happen. Something bad." Stopping, Cal sat down Jerod down, "Wait here. We'll come back for you."

"But— "Jerod began to protest.

"Not buts." Cal cut him off, "Just until we know what's there. And you know when to run, right?"

Jerod nodded.

"Alright." Cal responded, before he and Charlie walked off. "Are we sure it's a good idea leaving a scared four-year-old alone in the woods?"

"The cabin's like, a foot away." Cal told her, "If anything happens, we'll know it."

As if on cue, they came up to an old brown wood cabin, what looked like a large plastic shed, and a tall thin wood structure close to the cabin.

"Is that what I think it is?" Charlie asked as they walked to the cabin the cabin.

"An outhouse?" Cal replied, "Yeah. She used to have it set up inside, bucket toilet, you know, cordoned the thing off with curtains, but made the place smell horrible."

"Cal, no offense, but what was your friend doing out here?" Charlie asked, glancing to where she thought she could make out some sort of garden in the fading light a little way away from the house.

"After Jerod's dad died, Adele sorta—snapped." Cal explained, "Pulled one of those pack a bag and leave it all behind deals. Found the cabin abandoned, and, seeing as no one was using it, decided to go off the grid, almost completely self-sufficient. Goes to town like maybe once every few months to sell fire wood at this stand the local taxidermist keeps to stay afloat during the off season, split the profits, or stock on up on what she can't make for herself."

The cabin's door was already opened. However, as they stepped inside, they saw the cabin had not only been left untouched, but it looked like everything just _stopped._ There were two paper plates and plastic cutlery on a smooth round table. Next to run of them was a little notebook and a crayon, and either Adele had terrible handwriting or Gabriel had been practicing his letters when things went down, next to the other was a blue metal cup with some sort of _Survivor_ logo on it.

Cal walked over to the table and peered into the cups. "Looks like she was reading tea leaves."

"Dinner on the stove." Charlie noted, glancing at skillet filled with some sort of rice dish. It was on a wood burning stove that looked like it had come with the cabin.

Cal glanced over to a device constructed out of terra cotta pots, black stones with a glass lid. "She's got hog jowl in the cooler. Probably meant to cook it tomorrow. The point is, she wasn't planning on going anywhere."

Just then there was the sound of clucking. The hunters turned their heads and saw a small bird the likes of which Charlie had never seen before, black skin covered with white almost fur like feathers. As Charlie went for her gun Cal scooped up the bird saying, "I know where we need to go."

As they hurried through the clearing they started to see signs of a struggle: A rain barrel thrown over, smeared dirt, rocks and charcoal on a grown, a tore up plastic bag, a pump action riffle that looked like it had been _thrown_ across the yard, and a give or take a dozen chickens, mostly Silky Bannies in white, black, black and gray mixed and a at least one brown, and three regular sized, regular looking chickens in black, red and yellow and running around the clearing. There was a fenced in chicken coop, but the gate what been left wide opened.

"Looks like whatever happened, it happened here." Charlie noted, shinning a flashlight out the scene, "But where did she go?"

That was when child scream pierced the night.

"Jerod!" Both hunters screamed, running back the way they came.

Meanwhile, Saginaw Michigan, Abigail had finished explaining what she wanted to Melanie who was now sitting down in the back room.

"So, basically, you want me to help you break up a marriage?" Melanie recapped.

"You make me sound like a whore trying to score a married man." Abigail countered, "Can you do it?"

"I can tell you what I see, I can't guarantee you'll like it." Melanie responded, standing, "Put you cash away, I don't want to take money for this. That would make _me_ feel like a whore."

Sighing, Abigail began to walk out the door, when Melanie grabbed her the arm. "I never said I wouldn't do it." She turned around to get material, only for her jaw to drop when she saw how bare her cupboards were.

"Wasn't there more here last time?" Abigail asked, "Sand and rocks and –whatever it is you use?"

"Yeah, I've had a busy couple week." Melanie responded, disconcerted.

Meanwhile, at Serena Joy's apparent, Maudie was petting the head of her kitten.

"Careful," Reason began, before turning to Serena Joy, "Thanks for letting us come by."

On the way home, Maudie asked is she could meet the kitten.

"Hey, I've been meaning to let you both see the little guy." Serena Joy declared, putting earrings in her ears.

"Speaking of which, have you named the little guy yet?" Reason asked.

Serena Joy glanced over, somewhat abashed. "Actually I've been having a bit of a mental block when it comes to that."

Elsewhere in Lebanon, Sam, a phone to his ear, was going down the soda isle to get more ginger ale while poor Dean was laid up in the cart covered with his Dad's coat, holding a puke bucket.  
"I still got thirteen minutes before the prescriptions ready, but then I'm getting him home." Sam assured Hannah on the other end of the line, "Until then I got him as comfortable as I can manage."

"Poor little guy…" Hannah mused, before reaching again herself, "I think I better go. Be safe out there."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, "Love you." He hung up and grabbed more ginger ale. He had a feeling they were going to need it. "You doing okay there, bud?"

Dean held a thumbs up, but his face didn't agree with his.

"It's okay, buddy." Sam soothed, pushing the cart down the aisle, "We'll be able to get your medicine and go home soon."

That was when a woman's voice called out, "Sam? Sam Winchester?"

Sam turned at the sound of his name and saw a woman around his age with long corn silk blonde hair pulled back from her face, and pale eyes. Someone he hadn't seen in what felt like a life time.

"Rebecca?" Sam asked, in utter shock, "Rebecca Warren?"

Rebecca nodded.

A lot of questions were running through Sam's head at once. The one that came out was, "W-What are you doing here?"

"My flight got canceled and in my infinite wisdom I thought driving back home or at least to the nearest airport was a good idea." Rebecca explained, "Had to stop for more supplies. How long has it been?"

"Since Zack and the—" Sam began, then lowered his voice, "The shape shifter."

"Kinda hard to forget something like that." Rebecca responded, "Really glad to see you're not actually dead." She had heard about the alleged murderous exploits of the Winchester brothers on the news, but considering what she had seen, never believed a word of it. Then he noticed what, or rather, who was in Sam's cart. "You have a kid?"

"Yeah," Sam responded, "Dean this is an old friend of Daddy's, Miss Rebecca, Rebecca, this is Dean."

Dean waved.

"Dean?" Rebecca repeated, "Like—"

"It's a long story." Sam told him, "And I'm honestly not sure it's appropriate for here." He gestured to Dean. "What about you?"

"We're—we're trying." Rebecca admitted, "I honestly got a bit of a late start in –well, everything. So, until then, I just—dote on my nieces and nephews." After a beat she added, "And thank you for that." Pulling a piece of paper from her purse. "Tell you what, here's my number, call me when you're not—in the middle of something."

Sam smiled. "Definitely."

Cal and Charlie sprinted for where they left Jerod, only to find the little boy gone and a figure in dark clothes looking through bushes seething, "Come here you little brat! Do you want to see your Mom or not?!"

The hunters pulled out their guns. "Don't move." Cal ordered, "Turn around."

The figure turned around, revealing an older balding man wearing a pair of spectacles.

"On the ground." Charlie ordered.

Instead, suddenly their guns were ripped by their hands by an invisible force, and then they were thrown to the ground themselves. Satisfied they were dealt with, the man went back to searching the bushes, grabbing Jerod. "No!" Jerod shouted, kick, and hitting, "Nooooooo!" Then he bit the man's hand.

"Shit!" The attacker cursed, dropping the boy.

That gave Charlie time to get her to gun, firing off a shot and hitting the would-be kidnapper's shoulder. Realizing he was defeated; the man turned and ran towards the woods.

First the hunters went to Jerod, Charlie picking him up. "Are you hurt?"

Jerod shook his head. "I tried to run, but—but—"

"It's okay, little man, you did great." Cal told him shinning his flashlight, "I got a blood trail, unless he knows the area he can't get far, especially at night."

Seeing a black leather bill foal on the ground, Charlie picked it up. "I got something better."

In Saginaw, Melanie had found an unusual solution to their problem.

"Craft sand?" Abigail questioned as she watched the physic spread the dyed blue sand on her table, "Really?"

"Sand is sand." Melanie reasoned, spreading the sand around, "If it's sand, I can divine with it." She spread it around some more, then stood back looking at signs.

"Well?" Abigail asked impatiently.

"Give me a second, I literally just finished." Melanie responded then commented to herself. "You're worse than Greg." Then she leaned down, carefully reading the signs in the sand. Seeing something odd, she made a face. "That doesn't…"

"What?" Abigail spoke up urgently, "What is it?"

"It's saying something about creepy clowns…" Melanie explained, bemused.

"Melanie!" Abigail snapped.

"I'm reading, I'm reading," Melanie assured her. Finally, she found something that looked like it pertained to Abigail. "You can't."

Abigail was confused and distressed. "What do you mean, I can't."

"You can't break them up, their bond is too strong." Melanie responded, "Nothing short of adultery, which doesn't look like that's going to happen, or abuse, ditto, is doing to make either of them leave the other. And you're not going to convince either of them they're a threat to the kids unless you can produce something more than your experience."

Abigail ran her hands through her hair. This could _not_ be happening. Suddenly, she knew what she needed to do. "Then how do I take her?"

"What?" Melanie responded.

"If neither of them will do the right thing, how do I—take the kid from them and get her somewhere safe?" Abigail elaborated, frustrated.

Melanie had just about had enough. "Okay, I don't know exactly what's going on, but I draw the line at kidnapping. You need to leave." She began to push Abigail towards the curtain, only to find herself slammed against the cabinets with a knife to her throat.

"You're gonna help me." Abigail seethed.

Back at the bunker, Sam had finally got Dean back home, got the medicine in him and put him into bed. "There you go? How are you feeling?"

"Yucky." Dean answered before taking a zip of _Pedialyte_.

Sam rubbed the toddler's ack. "I'm sorry, bud."

"Why can't Mommy make me better like normal?" Dean asked.

Sam froze. They had probably come to rely on Hannah's power when it came to things like this. "Mommy's powers, -they started acting up yesterday." Sam admitted, "We don't know why, but the point is, this time we're on our own, bud."

"Oh, no, poor Mommy." Dean lamented.

Just then, as if on cue, they could hear the familiar sound of reaching from down the hall.

"I'm gonna go check on your Mom and get your brother, okay?" Sam began, standing up.

Dean nodded but whimpered. Taking a few steps, Sam stumbled over a toy that in the commotion of the day had been left out, causing him to stumble. He fell back, his bottom sticking at it hit the floor.

"Oh, no." Dean called out again.

At that moment, Reason was in the passenger seat of Serena Joy's Nova when the phone went off. Picking up, she said, "Hey, Sam?" When she didn't get a response, her face fell, "Sam?"

Hearing her, Sam pulled out his phone. "Sorry, pocket dial." He explained in a pain voice.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Reasoned.

"Yeah, ah, we just—had a lot of stuff happen suddenly." Sam explained, "Hannah's having morning sickness, well, evening sickness now I guess, Dean has one of those twenty-four hours stomach bugs and Cas is molting."

"I'm sorry, molting?" Reason responded.

"Yeah, it's ah, it's a thing apparently." Sam told her.

Just then, Dean picked up his newly washed bucket and puked in it.

Putting a hand over the receiver, Reason asked, "S. J., I hate to put you out, but you mind turning around, I think Sam's needs some help."

"Just let me find a place to turn around." Serena Joy replied.

Reason put the receiver up to her month. "Sam, help is on the way."

"Reason you can't—" Sam began.

"I most certainly can." Reason cut him off, "Sam, I owe you like, fifteen at this point."

By this point, Reason had a key, so she able to let herself, Serena Joy and Maudie in. "Sam," Reason called out, "We're here."

"In the bathroom!" Sam called out.

"This place only has one bathroom?" Serena Joy asked her friend.

"No, but I know which one he's talking about." Reason said.

In the bathroom, Sam and Hannah were slathering Cas's wings in ointment, cream, ointments, oils, anything and everything they thought would help with the itchy or the pain. While nothing they used smelt particularly bad per sea, some of them strong, causing Hannah to have another wave of neasousness.

They were applying one of the stronger oils and Hannah covered her mouth heading back to the toilet, just as their friends appeared in the doorway. "Looks like we got here just in time. "Serena Joy commented.

Reason went to Hannah, helping the angel hold back her. "I got her, Serena, you help Sam."

Serena Joy went to Sam, helping to hold Cas steady. Then there was reaching from down the hall. "Looks like Dean's up." Sam commented.

"I'm on it." Serena Joy commented, setting Maudie on the counter. To everyone's surprise, the toddler reached out and held Cas, both comforting her friend and allowing his father to apply the oil.

"Oh, by the way, we brought this," Reason pulled a red tube and a green bottle out of her jacket, "Hydrocodone cream and some kind of eucalyptus tea body oil or something. I don't know, it's Serena's." As her other friend heaved again, she commented, "I don't miss this part."

Meanwhile, Charlie sat in a both at the local number on her lap top, following the tails left by their suspect, who while he got away was stupid to enough to bring his real ID to a kidnapping, while Cal sat across from her with Jerod, half asleep and scared and upset, laid in his lap, covered with Cal's jacket

"Okay, so we're looking for Lyle Griffin." Charlie began, " Biology teacher, no recent career history, though, just a few years shy of sixty—"

"Griffin, Griffin, why does that name sound familiar?" Cal wondered around, a pit forming in his stomach, as he knew wherever he knew it from it was bad.

Charlie started hacking into the schools Griffin use to work for, and her eyes widened. "Whoa. Apparently over the course of his career he's steps down or was flat out fired from like, five universities, officially for different reasons but unofficially—he was suspected of misappropriating funds for unsanctioned research one time, another he went on long rambling Eugenics rants in the middle of lectures—"

"Eugenics?" Cal repeated, not sure what that even meant.

"Yeah, the concepts go back to the Greeks but the modern version was logically developed by Darwin's lesser known likely more duchey half cusion before the Nazis really made it famous." Charlie explained.

Suddenly Cal remembered a conversation he had long ago with a friend. "I know where I know the name Griffin from. It was Adele's last name."

"I thought Adele last name was Owens." Charlie responded, confused.

"It is now, she got it legally changed back when she was eighteen, but when she was a kid her rat bag step father adopted her and she had his last name." Cal explained, "Look, I don't know much because Adele never told me much, but she told Jerod, the first Jerod, the kid's dad, and the night she did, he got drunk, like _real_ drunk and he never drank, stumbled into mind room and lot of what he said didn't make sense, but he said Adele's father was, and I quote, 'into some real Nazi shit'. "Then something else occurred to him. Lowering his voice, he said, "What I do know is Adele ran away from home at fifteen."

Suddenly Charlie found a report that made a lot of things made sense. "I think I know why. According these reports Griffin was caught in one of the campus science labs preforming electro shock therapy on his, what is described here as his adopted daughter—Adele Emily Griffin—something he had no training or any authority to do. He claimed that Adele had started harming herself after the death of her mother and the therapy was being performed by a trained professional, but the cops saw through that, Adele was placed in an emergency shelter until her aunt and uncle and could come down from Covington Kentucky to get her and an investigation was launch but both she and Griffin disappeared. Police thought that family might be helping him evade authorities, case was more or less dropped after Adele reappeared three years later in Covington and her relatives were given emergency custody. But these picture forms the police field—there brutal." She visible cringed at a picture of Adele at fifteen, her head shaven with fresh surgical stiches.

Cal let out a sigh, feeling like he was going to be sick and wanting to punch something.

"Okay, so, guy who's already into some gnarly genetic philosophies discovers his step daughter's physic— "Charlie began to speculate.

"Assumingly that wasn't why he picked her Mom out in the first place." Cal added.

"Right," Charlie responded, "And he decides that—I don't know, physics are the next step in evolution and decided to try to see what makes her tick, but she escapes, and you know what happens after that, you were there for most of it, and then—"

"And then he tracks her down again." Cal finished gravely, "Decides to pick up where he let off except this time, she's got a kid he can cut up like Frankenstein's monster, too."

"But –how?" Charlie wondered, "I mean, I looked, and apart from getting Jerod a birth certificate and social security number, she hasn't left any foot print in over four years, and she didn't have much of digital foot print before then."

"That doesn't matter now, "Cal brushed it off, "What matters now is finding her before he can start up his experiments again, do God knows what to her."

Charlies finger met the keys and she worked her magic. "I think I know how to do that too. There was a charge to Griffin's brother's credit card to storage unit not two far from here, payed for the next six months." After reading more she added, "There's also apparently been a series of break ins in the areas over the last two days. Pet store, walk in client…"

"He's building a lab." Cal declared.

The pair lept from the seats, Cal throwing a twenty on the table. They only got a cup of coffee and some fries they tried to get Jerod to eat, but they spent a lot of time at that table.

In the dim light of the aforementioned storage unit, a woman in her mid-twenties with long blonde hair flowing out around her like a halo, dressed in pined up and sewed up maternity overalls, was lying on sheet on the floor, turning over and edging her way towards that currently sewing up his own bullet wound, stuck in a haze of drugs that was making her escape all that much harder. If she could just get a little closer….

In terms of uses for combat, Aura reading was pretty sucky power. It certainly didn't help her mom when it came to her choice in men. Well, maybe not entirely true. She heard uncle tell her aunt once that the mom could see the darkest in their Auras, the flaws, she just willfully ignorant, or thought she could fix her significant others. The point was, Aura reading could give you an idea who to avoid, but if you couldn't avoid them you were on your own.

Super Strength however, was a completely story.

She wasn't sure what he did that worked, even he wasn't sure. For all his talk of being a big-time scientist, had an only a thing grasps of concepts like scientific method, repeatable phenomena, and he kept adequate notes but his organization of them was a mess. Apparently, he had figured it out eventually if the Carrie White routine was any indication, he had been winter creek dry of any power before. In disorganized notes, he speculated on what powers that could be unlocked. He thought in her case, it would be telepathy, or visions. Telekithsis and super strength, who knew? She had only been able to use her _own_ telekithsis twice, once when she was fifteen to open the lock door standing in between her and freedom, the second time that evening when she threw Jerod so far, she wasn't sure where he landed, just hopped that he had landed safely. Her baby was not going to suffer like she had. She could only activate the super strength in fits of high emotions at first, and then she found the cabin and decided she was done in this world, she wasn't going to raise her son it. The super strength got a lot of practice then, lot of lifting, lot of pulling. When you're a hundred pounds soaking wet in the middle of nowhere it was useful. She would have used it on Lyle, if he hadn't started throwing her around the clearing like a rag doll before injecting her with something that knocked her out cold.

He'd been keeping her dosed up ever since, which was making any attempt at escape nearly impossible. But is she could just get close enough to get to a good kick in…

Cal pulled up to the storage unit, glancing into the back where Jerod was passed out a sleep. They had hated bringing him, but time was of the essence. Who knew what Griffin would do not that he knew people were onto him? There was no time to drop him off with anyone. Not if they wanted to save his Mom.

Charlie tapped a note to window entreating people not to break the glass, as the proper tempt controls and the light was on, he had water and blankets and they had music on for him, then they got out. Locking the door, they went up to the attendant, Charlie having her badge out already. "FBI, we need into your Unit 29 B, _now_."

Adele fell down, too spent to go on. Hearing her hit the floor, Lyle turned around, and stood up. "Will you never learn?" He tutted picking her up.

Just then the door raised, revealing a cowed nighttime attendant, and two righteously angry hunters. "What the—" The attendant began in shock and Cal and Charlie raised their guns, ready to shoot.

Lyle held Adele to him, using her as a human shield. He focused on their guns, trying to throw, but the guns only shook. "How?" Lyle sputtered, stunned.

"Turns out there's a million and one uses for Duct Tape." Charlie quipped, "Gently put the girl to the ground, and get on your knees."

"You foolish child!" Lyle seethed, "Do you even realize what this girl is?!"

"She's someone you were supposed to protect!" Cal spat, "Not poke her and prod her like a human lab rat!"

"It's a necessary starfice for the good of human—ah!" Lyle began only to be cut off by a horrible pain in his foot.

Adele was able to focus enough to step down his foot, breaking it. She hit, enabling her to move away, and grab onto him throwing him across the room with sickening _crutch._ Suddenly she felt exhausted, totally drained, and collapsed on the floor, losing consciousness.

"I got her; you check him." Cal said, removing the duct tape from his hand and running for Adele. Charlie decided to keep hers on for a moment, hurrying over to the monster and taking his pulse. "He's dead."

Cal took the physic into his arms. "You hear that Adele? You're free."

Rousing somewhat, she rasped, "Jer-Jer—"

"I'll take you to him." Cal promised, running for the truck.

In Saginaw, Melanie, sat uncomfortably in a dark brown Windsor chair, her wrist secured to the middle post with a large white silk scarf, while Abigail poured more blue craft sand out on the table and spread it around.

"Help me!" Melanie screamed, hopping to attach attention from the outside, "I'm being robbed! Help me—" She was cut off by a hot sting to her cheek as Abigail slapped her.

"Shut up!" Abigail snapped, before pushing the chair towards the table, "There. It's ready. Now read." She picked up the knife again.

Melanie took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and began to read. "Let's see. Not seeing a lot here, something about a life sized model of the Ark in Kentucky—" Abigail put the knife to Melanie's throat, "It says here you need to try to make nice with them!" She closed her eye, breathing in and out.

All was silent for a minute. "What does that mean?" Abigail demanded.

"I don't know." Melanie admitted frantic, "I guess, you need to get in their good graces if you want to get close enough to take the baby."

Abigail thought on that for a moment. "That actually makes sense." She raised the knife away from her Melanie's skin, but kept it in her general fascinate. Anything else?"

"Just something about southern regions." Melanie said softly.

"Southern regions?" Abigail repeated.

"That's all it says, I don't know, I'm sorry." Melanie rambled, "Please—please don't kill me."

Abigail stood up as she realized that now she had a witness to what she was planning. But she really didn't want to kill anyone, no one human at least. Besides, it wasn't like she gave Melanie enough information to give the Winchester warning…unless she did. Suddenly an idea formed in her head. Having her own personal sand diviner might be useful to her mission, "Do you have a car?"

The kids finally asleep, Reason and Maudie curled up in one of the study chairs and Serena Joy back on track to meet to Rawls, the only conscious people in the house were Sam and Hannah, who was sitting on the bathroom floor, but for the moment her nausea had subsided.

"Hey," Sam greeted her, walking in with a bottle of ginger ale and Pedialyte, "Though you could use these."

"Thank you." Hannah responded, taking the Pedialyte first and slowly shipping from the bottle.

Sam sat down next to her, saying, "You will not believe who I ran into while I was getting Dean's medicine. Have I ever told you about this friend of mine from school, Rebecca Warren?"

"She's the one with the brother, the one who was attack by the shape shift who looked like Dean." Hannah recounted, "Well back when he was-older."

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "Apparently she was traveling to get back home." He shook his head in disbelief, "I haven't even thought about her in—I could 't even tells you when. That whole time, Hell, even getting back in the job—it seems like a lifetime ago now. Sometimes—I almost forget 'oh, yeah, that stuffed happened', "After a beat he asked, "Would it be weird if I said sometimes, I forget there was a –before this? You know, that there was a time that Dean and Cas were our brother, not our kids?"

"Not at all." Hannah told him, "In fact sometimes I forget too, that it wasn't always this way. " After a beat she added, "Of course there are also times, usually when Dean's running around with underwear or a grocery bag on his head, or I'm trying to convince Cas—who I don't know if you knew but back when he was an adult I sort of idolized-"

"Oh, I noticed." Sam told her, resisting the urge to laugh.

"-That there's not a monster in the toilet," Hannah continued, "-And occasionally when I've got my head hung over that same toilet, that I wonder 'how did we get here'?"

Sam chuckled. There were times that he wondered the same thing. "My 'how did we get here' moments usually when come when Cas can't pronounce 'popcorn' or 'I' or when Dean—who I don't know if you knew but back when he was an adult I sort of idolized-"

"Only after we talked about it," Hannah admitted.

"-Asks me to leave the hall light on, because his stuffed animals and/or Cas is scared." Sam continued," Also sometimes Coat. Also don't take the this the wrong way, I'm happy to do it, but when I'm getting raspberry jam at midnight."

Just then, as if on cue, a clock chimed from somewhere in the bunker.

"Speaking of which, I think we just rang in 2016." Sam declared, before kissing Hannah on the forehead.

The first thing Adele Owens were aware of as she came to was the sound of something cooking, sizzling. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw the rough dark brown of the bedroom in her cabin, light shining through from the window in the kitchen. Remember what happened the night before, she jolted into an upright position, looking back in froth in state of panic until her eyes landed on her son. Jerrod was curled up in the pull-out second of the gray wood framed trundle bed the shared, curled up under sheets and a red and blue quilt, his little body moving up and down as he breathed, clutching his teddy bear. Relieved, Adele rubbed her head, as it was throbbing from getting up so fast. She got up to Cal and a redhead she had never seen before in the kitchen, the redhead flips a pancake in her iron skillet. On the table was one plate full of hog jowl and another plate full of pancakes, with one of her syrup jugs in between them. When Cal saw she was up, he hurried around the table, asking, "How are you feeling? Do you remember what happened?"

"All too well." Adele groaned, "And I feel like somebody put rocks in my head." After a moment she realized, "And my joints for that matter."

"Though you might," Cal responded, snatching a blue and white bottle off the table and handed it to her, "So, I ah, took the liberty of raiding some pain killers from your shed."

Adele smiled taking the bottle. "Not the only thing you helped yourself too, I see."

"Yeah, what was with all the pancake mix in there?" Charlie spoke up. She had got a peek inside Adele's shed and while there were a lot of things that it made sense for her to have up there, there were also a lot of things she couldn't figure out. "Also, can I ask about the paper plates?"

"Pancake mix lasts for decades, surprisingly enough, ditto with maple syrup." Adele explained, "Paper plates save on water. Just throw them in the fire when you're done." After a beat she came out with it, "Cal, not to sound ungrateful, but who is Reba McEntire, and what is she doing in my kitchen?"

"This is Charlie Bradbury, hunter." Cal answered, "When I found Jerod, I knew this was going to be bad, whatever it was, so I called in reinforcements, she was the nearest."

"As for what I doing in your kitchen," Charlie began, dispoiting the last pancake, "The doctors said you were fine, but we couldn't leave you along, so we hung around, tried to clean up the mess Griffin made, put the rain barrels upright, fixed the water purification system, rounded up the chickens, but we're still working on the pen, got your dew cloths down and rung out."

"And we figured you two would be hungry whenever you came to." Cal finished, "Hog Jowl for luck in the new year, right?" Adele had always been religious about Hog Jowl, cabbage and black eye peas on New Year's. Every year she would shove the stuff at him and Jerod, not their son, but his father, insisting they eat it.

"Right." Adele confirmed breaking into a smile, "Thanks guys." She was quiet for a moment, then she asked, "Is it true? What you said last night? Is Lyle dead."

"Yes." Cal responded, "Adele, I think we need to talk."

"It's really not part of my life I'd care to relive." Adele told him unscrewing the lid on the bottle before popping the pills in her mouth, dry swallowing.

"Yeah, I understand." Cal agreed, "But what I'm really more concerned about is are you still safe here?"

"Yeah, apparently Lyle wore out his welcome with his family and everyone else who was helping him." Adele explained, "And from what I heard of his phone calls most of his "colleges" from when I was a kid think he's lost him mind and/or are more concerned with covering their own asses, patron my French, from liability then 'elevating humanity'. He only found me by chance. Apparently, he also got a kick out of reading people minds just because he could, saw me in the memory of cashier of _Kroger._ " After a beat she added, "I had to go down to get the hog jowl."

"So, what are you going to do now?" Charlie asked, putting a kettle of hot water on the table and mixing it into a cup of instant coffee.

"Well, first I fix the chicken pen." Adele responded, "Really you didn't have to do all that, thank you."

"Don't mention it," Charlie began, "But—no judgement—you're still gonna stay up here?"

"I didn't go off the grid because I was scared of Lyle Griffin." Adele told her, "I went off the grid because society keeps churning out people like Lyle Griffin, and the man that killed the love of my life for the paper in his wallet, and Hitler and Mussolini, and Mao and Minh and Scott Robertson and Evril LeBron and Warren Jeffs, and Alfred Kinsey and Marquis De Sade and every allergy tester alive. I was just—done. With the monsters in the dark, or the human ones that can go around in board daylight. Look around, you've had to have seen it. Sure, you can try to make it better, and I did. We did. It didn't work. Something's gone wrong down deep that no one wants to admit. And I don't want a part of it anymore. And my son's not going to be a part of it. At least until he can decide for himself. I'll make sure he's informed enough to make the decision."

The air lingered heavy for a minute, then there was the pitter patter of tiny feet and a voice happily calling out, "Mommy!"

Adele scooped her son up in her arms. "Hey there Little Bear." She held him close to him.

"Uncle Cal and Charlie found you." Jerod smiled.

"Yeah, they did." Adele declared, pulling him close, his head resting on her shoulder, "And Mommy's not going to leave you like that again. Not as long as she's solid and fleshy. Now, what do you say to Uncle Cal and Charlie?"

Jerod looked up. "Thank you."

"No problem little guy," Cal assured him, "Now, come on let's get some grub." As they walked to the table Cal whispered to Adele, "I might have, uh, had a few little Christmas-New Year type presents with me when I found him."

"Did you hear that, Jerod?" Adele asked, as the little boy's face lit up.

Back at the bunker, Dean was feeling better, but they were still making the little guy take it easy for bit longer. Cas, however, was still a mess with his wings, on his stomach as Sam rubbed more cream on.

"Still want to have wings, Dean?" Sam quipped, thinking after seeing all this, Dean had to be over his jealous fit.

"Yes." Dean declared, crossing his arms.

Sam sighed. Finishing with Cas, he walked went back over to the doorway where Dean had been watching, crouching down. "Why do you want wings so badly all of a sudden?"

"Well, Cas and the baby and Mommy all have wings!" Dean reasoned.

That last part surprised Sam. "Dean, how do you know Mommy doesn't have wings?"

"Cas told me." Dean answered, "I'll be the only one without wings."

"Dean, we don't know for sure if the baby's gonna have wings, yet." Sam told him, "I might, but it might not. "According to both the American and Italian archives, Nephilim were always more powerful than their parents, there had been documented cases of Nephilim not having wings. Jane hadn't had wings. "And besides I don't have wings, right? Has Cas ever said anything about me having wings?"

Dean shook his head. "No."

"And Cas would've told you if I had wings you couldn't see, right?" Sam reasoned.

"Yes." Dean agreed.

"So not having wings isn't that big a deal, right?" Sam went on.

"But why do they get to be special?" Dean lamented.

Something accrued to Sam. "Well, they're not all that special, bud. See, remember how we talked about how Mommy and Cas are something called angels?"

Dean nodded.

"Well, you see, all angels have wings." Sam reasoned, "So for angels, having wings isn't special. Mommy and Cas are normal for what they are. I mean, they're special to us because we love them." _Plus, Cas' wings are solid and actually work. But you don't need to know that right now._

"Am I special to you to because you love me?" Dean asked.

"Of course, you are." Sam answered, pulling his little guy into a hug, stomach bug be dammed.

"You're special to me too, Daddy!" Sam declared, "Because I love you."

"I love you too bud." Sam said before letting him go.

Dean went over to their toy bin, pulling out Domino and dragging him over to Cas' bed.

"Ah, Dean what are you doing?" Sam asked.

"I'm trying to make Cas' feel better." Dean explained, going back and pulling out Oddball as well.

Five minutes later, little human and a little angel were giggling in a big pile of toys while their parents watched. 


	82. Homeschool Kids

"Okay," Sam was saying, looking at his lap top, "This is in driving distance from the bunker. Kids look happy…"

"It could be staged." Hannah pointed out, leaning over him, "Plus, I'm not sure about that jungle gym. Doesn't look regulation."

"Babe, you've found something off with the last five we've looked at." Sam told her.

"You're the one who got nervous about the _snacks_ they were serving." Hannah pointed out.

"Do you know how much refined sugar are in some of those graham crackers?" Sam responded.

With the boy's birthday a few weeks away Sam and Hannah were embarking on a journey that every parent dreaded: Picking out a preschool. They lived in a small town, so options were limited, unless they went the closest town over. And then they discovered the waiting lists…

"This could all be academic." Hannah pointed out, putting her fingers to her temple, "We can't send to school with—" She gestured over to where the boys were playing, speficly Cas' exposed wings.

"Well, we have to get them educated, it's the law." Sam reasoned, "Then again, since when have we ever really cared about that?" After a beat Sam added, "Of course now we all exist in some form or another on paper…"

"Well, we could hold them back a couple of years." Hannah reasoned, "See if Cas' wings become immaterial again. "

"They _do_ have an awkwardly place birthday, school year wise." Sam mused, considering his wife's suggestion.

"There's waiting list?!" Reason balked as she handed Maudie off to Hannah that afternoon at the diner.

"Apparently." Hannah responded, "That you're apparently supposed to enroll your kids in at birth. I didn't know preschool was that important. I _still_ don't understand why it's so important. It's just—colors and numbers. They know most of that now. "After a beat she added, "Plus, even if we can actually get them in somewhere, there's-well, you know."

Reason nodded her understanding.

Serena Joy walked by with a table's order. "Hey, have you considered home schooling?"

"Homeschooling?" Hannah repeated, unfamiliar with the term, but she thought he knew it from somewhere.

"Yeah, you know, teach the kids at home, put grades into a system on line so that the state has records." Serena Joy suggested, "I mean, I normally wouldn't suggest it, but you literally have a gigantic library and telescope in your home."

"But—most of the library is lore and languages." Hannah responded, unsure.

"Well, you have your mythology and foreign language lesson plans all laid out." Serena Joy shrugged.

After Sam got off work Hannah told him what Serena Joy had suggested.

"I don't know…" Sam began, rather ambivalent about the idea.

"I mean, we do have all this," Hannah gestured to the stacks, "Plus, with our work schedules at least one of us at is home at any given time. We could divide the subjects out to our strengths and switch off."

"It's a good idea and you've thought this out." Sam admitted, "But—their success or failure would be completely on us. If they crash and burn it'll be our fault. I mean, maybe I'm selfish, but that is _a lot_ of pressure."

"You're not selfish, you have a point." Hannah assured him, having seconds thoughts herself due to that point.

Sam thought a minute. Suddenly he had an idea. "Hey, you remember that family of hunters, the Parkers?"

"The ones who had that storage unit your co-worker and her dad bought?" Hannah recapped.

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "The older brother, Joel, homeschools his daughter. Maybe I call him up, try to get a picture of what we'd be getting into?"

"What if he asks why we're considered homeschooling?" Hannah questioned.

"I'll try to keep him off, make something up if I have to, and if worst come to worst—well, his kid can start fires with her mind." Sam answered, "Maybe, he'll understand."

Sam called Joel and explained the situation, dancing around the exact reason _why_ they were considering homeschooling, thought he did get a notion, he just didn't press.

"I'll be straight with you," Joel began, "There can be a lot of benefits to homeschooling, more freedom schedule wise, you and your kids can experiment with different methods, for a while there Carrie-Anne liked to get the whole week's worth done in three days and give herself a five-day weekend, you can tailor your lessons to your kids specific learning styles and needs, and with less kids a school day is shorter, sometimes by several hours, tons of electives, better school life balance, they learn to socialize with _all_ age groups, quite frankly they're not exposed to the craps public schoolers are. Plus, when you're on the road, there's always some museum or something somewhere that correlates with the curriculum. _But_ if you're doing it right, it's a ton of work, especially during the early years, you often have to learn to be able to teach, which if you're like me and hopeless in math is quite frustrating, your kids aren't involved in sports of after-school actives, I mean, there's a lot you do on your own and with home school groups, and some states there's even paperwork you can fill out so your kid can be in the school's extra curriculars, but even with all that, sometimes options are limited, when you got things like tv or video games or even your favorite book in striking distance, it can get distracting, and while I've never experienced it with Carrie Anne, _some_ kids do have a harder time finding a group of friends when they aren't in a peer group on a daily basis , speaking of Carrie Anne, when she was kid she was afraid to be out during normal school hour in case a cop saw her, and people are judgey. Like, _really_ judgey. Seriously, I'm more or less immune to parent shaming at this point, but the minute the term 'homeschooling' comes after your mouth, people assume you're a dumb redneck ruining your kids' education and social skills. And honestly, there are some people that just shouldn't be teachers, which now that I think about is probably one of the reasons people are so judgey. Seriously, Carrie Anne met this kid in a Tuesday school in Akron whose mom taught her that frying food sanitizes it, and another group of kids whose parents are basically unschooling them. "

"Tuesday school?" Sam repeated.

"It's a way for homeschool kids to get socialization." Joel responded, "I'll send you screenshots of my directory. Also, you might want to look into co-ops."

"Ah, you've lost me again." Sam told him.

"They're were families meet once or twice a week and teach as group, one parent teaches one subject, another does another, so on, so forth." Joel explained, "That was the kids can also get group learning. I've honestly never does it myself, not really enough associates with kids."

Sam rubbed his forehead, not necessarily stressed, just absorbing all the information.

"Is any of this helping?" Joel asked, "I mean, I'd offer you my old curriculums, but I've already sold most of them."

"The information's really helpful, it's just a lot to take in." Sam responded, "Thanks Joel."

"No problem." Joel responded, "Tell you what, I got a lot of articles and resources and stuff from when I first started out with Carrie Anne. I'll email them to you with the directory."

"Thanks." Sam responded.

Sam continued his research on home schooling, adding co-ops to the list, and found the whole thing was rather involved.

"So, there are these co-ops called university model co-ops that meet twice or three times a week with a full slate of work to cover all typical academic credits." Sam was telling Hannah, who was sitting in a chair with her feet in another chair, "That and their homework usually make up the bulk of the kids' education."

"Isn't all work technically home work for homeschool kids?" Hannah questioned.

"There's also entrichment-orientaed co-ops that focus on extra curriculars or social interaction," Sam continued, "And there mini-versions called clubs. There's actually this blog I found with listing of co-ops in the aera."

"Weren't we doing this to _avoid_ unnecessary exposure?" Hannah pointed out, "I'm not sure co-ops are for us."

"Well, if we decide to do this, we still need to get them socialized somehow." Sam declared.

"They can still socialize; they're socializing what now." Hannah reasoned, "They got Maudie." She gestured over to where the kids were consequentially playing school, in the floor a few feet away. Looking up and seeing they were watched, they waved, "And there are Elsbeth's girls."

The adults smiled as it was actually quite cute, then went back to their discussion. "Well, that only works until Reason geta Maudie in a pre-school." He sighed," Well, I guess they'll still have contact with each other. We can still do playdates-alright, maybe we table this part for now."

A few days later, Sam was at the Commune, doing maintenance on their showers. They had rigged some primitive ones, smalls room made of planks with a large tank that had to be refilled every few weeks. Some of the plants were rotting and he was replacing them, as usually with his little Entrange, who were very excited to see him again, as it had been some time since the Commune had work for him.

"There's a new girl in our sleeping quarters." Anything was telling him.

"Really?" Sam responded, glancing at the five-year-old briefly before going back to hammering the plank.

"Uh-huh." Anything continued, "Her name is Gwenie and she a little younger than George, you've never meant George, but she's a bigger girl, only Gwenie's not in the security forces like George is, she's been helping Sunflower teach us and she came with these really pretty dresses, and she gave me this one." She tugged at her dress, red embroidered with black, "And she gave Arura the one she's wearing too." She pointed her to her half-sister, who was about nine, dressed in a storm gray dress with white polka dots and two big pockets on the front.

Just the, Sunflower came over with a girl of about thirteen with brown braided pigtails holding up her hair, dressed in gray coveralls that covered a white long sleeve shirt, and black boots. Sunflower was holding some kind of book in her hands. "Okay guys, why don't we give Sam a break for a little bit?"

"Aw!" The girls protested.

"Five more minutes, please, Sunflower?" Little Olympia, at least Sam thought it was Olympia, it could've been Octavia, pleaded, her eyes managing to get bigger and bluer.

That was when Sunflower's newfound companion spoke up. "Hey, it's Samuel, right?"

"Uh, yeah, Sam," Sam answered, turning his head to look at her.

"What if we do our history here why we work?" She asked, "That way—everyone's happy."

"Yeah, sure if you can do that." Sam agreed.

"Prefect," Sunflower began, "Now, everyone gather round me, in the circle." Sunflower's assissent rounded up a few toddling stragglers as Sunflower sat down with the book, sitting it in her lap, "Now, where were we last time?"

"We were about to start chapter 5, the reformers." Her assistant reminded her.

"Right." Sunflower responded, turning to the page.

Sunflower spent the next half hour stopping to elaborate or answer the girl's question. Sam slowed down in his own work, fascinated by what he was watching. He had never really watch Sunflower teach before. Usually when she rounded up the kids, she took them too far away. He wasn't sure some of the content of what appeared to be some sort of history lesson was appropriate for the younger kids, but he had to admit, Sunflower and her newfound assistant did a good job.

Standing up Sunflower asked, "Watch these guys for a minute?"

The girl nodded and Sunflower stood up, walking away. The girl stood up as well as the kids all ran towards Sam.

As she walked closer, Sam turned to look at her. "Hey, Gwenie right?"

The girl, Gwenie apparently, nodded.

"Where'd Sunflower get that from?" Sam asked.

"The Commune Library." Gwenie answered, crossing her arms awkwardly.

"Ah—The Commune has a library?" Sam asked in reply.

"Yeah, in the house." Gwenie shrugged.

"W—Where'd the books come from?" Sam inquired.

"I think some of them came from women who brought them with them and then were done with them." Gwenie responded, "Also, a lot came from the Partona's personal collection."

Sam turned back to his work, the wheels spinning in his head. Wheels that were so distracting he didn't even notice how perilously close the nail was to his hand until he felt the pain of it going in. "Ah!"

That was how he wound up on the second floor of the house in room set up like a bed room, where a woman in her late 30s dressed in blue scrubs, her brown hair pulled up in a ponytail, was wrapping Sam's hand in gauze.

"Sorry about the homespun antiseptic." Tilly apologized, "But supplies are limited, you know?"

"It's okay." Sam responded, "I didn't even know you could do that with honey."

"Nature's anti-bodic ointment and nature's anti-allergy medicine." Tilly declared, "It's very versatile."

Just then a girl with coffee-dark skin and short hair that curled naturally at the bottom, stepped into the doorway and knocked on the door.

"Just a second." Tilly told her, turning around and taking a set of keys out of her pocket going over to a pale wood and glass cabinet with a large pad lock on it, putting the key. Unlocking the cabinet, she took a green bottle and handed the young woman and pale-yellow pill out of it. "Come back before dinner for your next dose."

Just then, another woman in white coveralls stumbled in. "Tilly, I, um, had an incident at the beehives."

"Again?" Tilly asked, handing the first girl some water to take the pills with, "One second."

As the Tilly turned her back, pulling a carton of cigarettes out of the cabinet and cutting off a butt, wheels started turning in Sam head. Sliding off the bed, he crept past Tilly and the others, who were distracted, and peaked out. He had come in with an escort that was on where to see, but he could hear her voice saying from somewhere, "And now's he got a bloody tent set up just outside the compound. Like, where did he even get a tent?"

His back to the wall, he carefully opened the nearest door. He crept to the next door. If there really was a library, it wasn't there.

 _I shouldn't be doing this._ Sam thought, _I get good money from this place. I am literally endangering my livelihood here. I should stop…_

Then he saw what looked like book shelves. Opening the door, she stepped inside and his mouth dropped opened.

There were three large bookshelves, each lined with books. There had to be at least a hundred. Some random titles like _Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls, The Definitive Guide to Body Language,_ but there were also books by Hemingway, Faulkner, Jane Austin, Edith Wharton, Zora Neale Hurston. He even thought he had a couple of Norton Anthologies in there.

Just then he heard someone clearing their throat from behind him. He whirled around to see the Partona standing there, her arms folded, wearing a disapproving glare.

"Curiosity isn't a sin, Sam, but lack of self-control is, we've talked about roaming around unattended." The Partona told him.

"I'm sorry, but, uh, someone told me about it, and then I wound up in the infirmary and— "Sam began, awkwardly, "I, uh, "He sighed, "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"We'll let it go this once." The Partona told him, "And I'll have to have a talk with Lacey about gossiping while on duty. Now, come on."

As they began to walk out, Sam asked, "Look, I know I'm pressing my luck, but, um, where did all these come from?"

"Like whoever told you probably told you said, a lot are my personal collections, thought the _Little House on the Prairie series_ belonged to my mother, and others were given by the girls because they were done with them." The Partona explained.

"Partona, I have a proposal for you." Sam told her.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Sunflower exclaimed, upon being summoned to the library and hearing Sam's proposal.

"That's what I asked him." The Partona responded.

"Look, we're talking one, maybe two days with two, maybe three other kids." Sam reasoned, "And I'll take full responsibility for their safety."

"Sam, most of their mothers didn't drop out just and head up here for nothing." Sunflower told him, "And these kids have never been off of the Compound. Some of them don't even have birth certificates or SSI numbers."

That took Sam aback. "What?! "

"Some of the women take 'Off the Grid' further then others." The Partona explained, "I let them decide for themselves."

"I tell them it's a mistake." Sunflower added, "If they get sick enough to need an actual hospital, they can't prove they're their mother, they could even be accused of kidnapping. The girls can't get a driver's license, a job, bank account, legally married-they could be deported, but some of them—they just won't listen to me."

"That's insane." Sam declared. _Even Charlie's misanthrope physic got her kid a birth certificate and social!_

"Nevertheless, it's how it is." The Partona declared, with a sense of finally about the issue.

"Look, if Boss Lady here okays this little experiment, I'll talk to the Moms, see if I can get their okay." Sunflower told him, "Just don't expect a big a turnout, okay?"

"Thank you." Sam breathed.

At the bunker, a black car parallel parked next to the building and Tabbris got out, walking up to the door and knocking. "Hannah, it's me." Leaning back on his heels he wanted until the door was opened, by Hannah who seemed somewhat frustrated. "Are you okay? He asked.

"Yeah," Hannah assured him, "But while you're here, I could use your help with something."

In the stacks, Tabbris lifted a giant book off the shelf and but it onto a cart.

"Can we please not tell Sam about this?" Hannah requested, following him as he pushed the cart, "I'm not supposed to be doing any heavy lifting. Or leaning over for that matter."

"I'm not really sure-" Tabbris began, "You know what, you probably know better than me. What's Sam hunting anyway that he needs all—this?"

"He's not hunting anything." Hannah told him, "He's not really hunting much at all, he's taken more of an advisory role lately. I just wanted to—try something."

"Try what, being a Pretender?" Tabbris asked, peering at the eclectic collection Hannah a accrued.

"A what?" Hannah responded.

"It's not important right now." Tabbris responded.

And so, Hannah told Tabbris all about their education woes.

"I guess I just wanted to try to see what we here, see if we do it." Hannah finished. Turning her head to look at Tabbris she asked, "What did Abigail do? With Jane?"

"A lot of different things, actually." Tabbris responded, "She tried putting her public school, but halfway through Kindergarten these boys tried to hold her down to put mud in her dress, and learned not to do that again the hard way. But in the process, she accidently almost killed one of them. Kicked him in the ribs so hard she broke half of them and nearly punctured his lung. She didn't mean to; she didn't know her own strength. That was when we finally had to set her down and tell her the truth. About everything. "

"How old was she?" Hannah asked.

"Five." Tabbris answered, "You can imagine how that went. She didn't fully understand the implication of what we're telling her, but…." He trailed off just short of what it was about to say, that Jane had become scared of herself, what she could do, but he realized that was the last thing the pregnant angel needed to hear right now, so he pulled it back on topic, " They had to leave town after that. Um, after that Gail tried homeschooling from a while, and it wasn't that Gail wasn't a good teacher, she tried, but she—she was in over her head." _Maybe if I had been there more, things would've been different._ "Around second grade Oliva, Oliva, that's Gail's sister, paid for her to go to a small private school, she figured, smaller school, smaller chance of exposure and for a while it worked, Jane was able to control if for the most part, but there were still other -incidents, smaller ones. She switches schools, I think maybe five times total before you graduated, if you count the change from home to private schooling."

A bit began to form in Hannah stomach.

"Hey," Tabbris began, recognizing her fear, "It doesn't have to be that way your daughter. She's in the last place anyone, human or angel, can find her, and you have something Jane didn't."

"What?" Hannah asked.

"Well, for one thing you have a large, stronger-lined support group." Tabbris told her, "Also, you have Sam." As they walked through the stacks he added, "Although, I would recommend _Hooked on Phonics,_ for well, Phonics." After a beat he added, "Speaking of Abigail, she called me earlier this week. She, um, wanted to know if maybe she could get in touch with you and Sam. She wants to apologize for the way she acted before."

In the months since Abigail's last visit to bunker, Sam had finally divulged what Abigail had told him. "I'll have to talk to Sam about it." She answered, unsure of how she felt about this development.

Two days later, Charlie carefully crept through the Kansas backwoods. Who even knew Kansas had backwoods? Thought she had only gone the way roughly twice, she managed to find her way. Soon she could hear…singing?

Jerod was rolling an old ridding toy, a large well-worn mohair-is bear on black metal wheels, while a less than a foot away, Adele was hanging up a bubble gum pink sheet on a clothesline, next to a pair of her overalls and a little tea colored shirt, singing to herself and to the boy, " _Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles and they ran through the bushes where a rabbit wouldn't go. They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em, on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico…"_ After a beat she called out, getting her son's attention. "Hey, Little Bear, time for a color lesson."

Jerod's head shot up.

"Can you tell me what color the sheet is?" Adele asked.

"Um, red?" Jerod answered tentively.

"Close Jerod, but not quite." Adele told him, "Now, think a minute. What do we get when mix white and red."?

Jerod thought a minute, then his eyes lit up, happily declaring, "Pink!"

"That's right." Adele beamed, leaning down, "Give me five, honey!" The pair high-fived then Adele rose up, "What about Mommy's overalls? What color are they?"

"Blue." Jerod answered.

"Good job." Adele told him encouringly.

"Good enough for a hot chocolate?" Jerod asked hopefully.

" _If_ you can tell me what color hot chocolate is." Adele challenged.

"Brown! "Jerod declared happily.

Charlie just sat there a moment, watching and listening, not wanting to startle them. At least that was the plan until Jerod said, "Hey, Miss Charlie."

Adele whirled around and saw the fiery haired huntress, who gave her a way.

"Hi," Charlie began nervously, wondering if this had been a good idea, "I'm Cal's friend, Charlie. I was hopping, we could talk for a minute."

That was when Jerod asked, his eyes hopeful. "Can Miss Charlie have some hot chocolate too?"

Adele's hot chocolate require hot water, equal parts powdered milk and non-dairy cream, several heaping spoonfuls of coca powdered, spoonfuls of honey, liberal pours of vanilla extract, and equally liberal pinches of cinnamon. As she prepared it, Charlie pitched her idea.

"So, I, a complete stranger to him he doesn't know from Eve, and my son who he doesn't know from Cain, Able or Seth, was first one he thought of?" Adele asked skeptically, pouring the concoction into cups and put to slices of bread on the range to toast.

"Not really," Charlie began, admitting an awkward truth, "In fact, he doesn't even know I'm here. I may or may not be overstepping on several counts here, I'm not on sure."

"Mmm-hmm." Adele responded, raising an eyebrow, "Charlie, look, I'm greatly for what you did for me and Jerod New Year's Eve, and I know you mean well, but—I'm going to have to go give this a hard pass."

"Look, I get it, society produces evil people, something's wrong, but—you also said you wanted him to decide, but—how can he decide with no experience?" Charlie asked.

"I have 37 books." Adele responded, "Some of those books are condenses books that are actually like, three books in one, so really more like, 42 books. He can get experience through that. "

"Okay," Charlie responded, "Well, what about friends?"

"He has friends." Adele insisted, "He's on a first name basis with every cashier at _Kroger._ He's got the chickens; he got his bear…."

"Well, human friends that he sees somewhat regularly." Charlie argued, adding softly, "Well, mostly human, anyway." Then speaking up again, she added, "Look, just think about it okay?"

As Adele took the toast off the range and cut it into cubes, sprinkling it onto the chocolate with and pouring more honey on it, she said nothing.

Two days later, Hannah laid out a series of colored card on the ground, while the children were playing a few feet away.

"Boys, Maudie." Can you come here for a second, please?" Hannah requested.

The twins and their friend came over, looking at the cards, curiously. "What's those?" Dean asked.

"These are colors cards," Hannah explained, "I want to see, how many of these you know. Dean, why don't you go first." She pointed to the white card, "Can you tell me what this is?"

Dean pointed at the card. "A piece of paper?"

 _Okay, my mistake._ Hannah thought, "I mean what _color_ is the piece of paper?"

"White." Dean answered.

"Good, "Hannah smiled, "Now, what about this one?"

While this was going on, Sam stepped into the doorway watching.

The good news is, their kids were on schedule where it came to knowing their colors. Hannah had to cotch them through some of it, but they did pretty. After colors, she tried letters. They didn't recognize all of them, all three of them mixed up P with Q, but it wasn't a bad first run, Sam thought.

Of course, they weren't entirely ready _yet._

Sam was waiting in the Impala in the Cul De Sac Hannah usually pedaled cosmetics in, looking around for the person she uses to meet when suddenly there was a knock on the window, startling him. He jumped a little only to find a woman who looked like a very stereotypical soccer mom. Sam rolled down the window, then asked in a low voice, "You Home School Mom 67?"

"You Please Help Me?" The Mom asked, "Weird screen by the way."

"Yeah." Sam responded, "Ah, why are we acting like this is a drug deal?"

"That's actually a good question." Home School Mom 67 replied, "Why don't you just—"

"Yeah," Sam agreed, getting out of the car. He pulled out his wallet and took out the money.

Home School Mom 67 pulled out a large manilla folder. "One home school curriculum, lightly used."

They exchanged the money from the curriculum. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you." Sam said, before getting back in the car.

"You too." Home School Mom 67 agreed before hurrying off.  
While it was serval months before the boys were due to start school, they wanted to do a trail run, at least with the co-op. They were wary about using the bunker for them moment, so Reason said they use her trailer, so long as there were no major damages.

The day of, the family was waiting on the front steps when a land rover pulled up and Gwenie stepped out of the back with one of the triplets, followed by a teenage girl with thick blonde waves, holding the other two triplets.

"Sorry, this is all we could get." Gwenie apologized, "You remember Emily, apparently."

"Yeah, how's-everyone doing?" Sam asked.

"We're adjusted." The Amazon answered, sitting the girls down.

Just then, Charlie's VW pulled up. "Look, I know this is, uh, a bit of a surprise, but, um, I think I got you another member, if that's okay." She went to the other side of the car and opened the door from Adele who went to back of the car and began unstrapping Jerod. It had been a heartbreaking struggle to get him in, he was so use to just sitting in his Mom's lap whenever they got rides from the taxidermist into town. Once out, he hid his face into his mom's chest.

"It's okay, baby." Adele soothed, "Everyone here's safe." Walking closer, she said, looked at Sam and Hannah to introduce herself only to let out a scream of pain. "Eeah!" She covered her eyes, "Look, I'm not prejudiced or anything, but you really could've warned me."

"Warned you about what?" Sam asked, concerned, beginning to stand up.

"Your wife, her aura, her energy." Adele explained, "It's like, looking into a shaky, wavy version of the sun. "

"I'm sorry, "Charlie apologized, trying guide her back to the car, "If I had thought— "

"No, no, we're still doing this, I can block it out, I just—warn a girl next time." Adele requested.

"Okay," Charlie agreed, "In that spirits, remember what I said about human friends…"

Adele was able to better brace her son for the shock of seeing Castiel's aura for the first time, as he was introduced to him, Dean, Maudie and the triplets. He just stood there, clutching a little bear made with blue and green plaid cloth, yellow gogglie eyes, and a brown felt muzzle.

Dean's well-meaning reaction didn't help. "Hi!' He exclaimed, going in for a hug, that the little boy reared back from.

"It's alright." Charlie soothed, wondering if this was a good idea, "Dean was just being friendly."

"It's just a hug." Adele backed up her, regretting most of her recent life choices.

"Maybe wait a bit for that, little one." Hannah advised.

As the children got to know each other, the adults began to discuss how this would actually work.

"Okay," Sam began, laying out the details of the curriculum, "According to this stuff here, what we're supposed to cover during preschool basic literacy, knowledge and understanding of words and their meaning, communication, talking and listening, social skills—I guess we're already starting to work on that, teamwork, play, even some science. Basic bean and a cup stuff."

"I'm already teaching Jarod his letters now." Adele spoke up, "I could do that, stuff, words."

"Sam or I could cover science." Hannah offered.

"I guess that leaves diving up the rest of stuff," Charlie began, "But how?"

As Gwenie checked outside, she said, "Ah, we might want to table this for the moment, we have might have a problem outside."

All the adults turned to look at her, Sam beginning to get up.

"Good news is, they're all getting along, the good news is, they've all decided to use the bathroom in the front yard." Gwenie explained, "Sorry, one of the triplets probably taught them it."

"Wait, is it poop or pee?" Adele asked.

"What's difference does that make?" Sam asked.

That was how the kids, and everyone else, got a little imparu science lesson.

"Now here's the thing about pee," Adele was saying, standing in front of the little group, "Unless you're stick, it is completely sterile. And, it's so rich and certain nitrogen's it can actually be used as fertilizer in a pinch."

"Is that why you put it on vegetables?" Jerod pipped up.

"Yes, sweetie," Adele answered patiently, "Put when we're here, we raise our hand like," She demonstrated, "Before we ask a question. Okay?"

Jerod nodded his understanding.

"But poop," Adele began, "Poop is very different."

Maudie raised her hand.

"Yes, little girl?" Adele asked.

"Um, poop has bad germs." Maudie told her.  
"That's right." Adele confirmed, "And that is why we have to be very careful with our poop we have to poop in the toilet or a trash bag and then we have to bury it in that trash bag. In fact, for now on, if we have a working toilet, we do that, okay?"

The children nodded their understanding.

"So, if we ever do a wilderness survival class, we have her teach it." Sam murmured over to Hannah.

"Agreed." Hannah nodded.

Later on that day, while the kids were playing, and _not_ peeing in yard, Sam showed everything the curriculum he had brought.

"Where did you even get this stuff?" Gwenie asked, looking through the papers.

"Well, apparently since they're so pricey a lot homeschool families keep them in mint condition and sell them." Sam explained.

Gwenie grinned from ear to ear. "Sweet."

Sam blinked as something about that made Sam realize how _young_ Gwenie was. She was what, twelve, thirteen, fourteen at the most.

Noticing he looking at her, Gwenie asked, "What?"

"Gwenie, how old are you?" Sam asked.

Gwenie narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"It's just—you look like you should still be in school, not teaching it." Sam told her.

"I'll stay with the rest of the kids and Sunflower can come next time, if you want." Gwenie offered.

"That's not…"Sam began, then stopped. He highly doubted Gwenie would be cooperative. Women from the Commune didn't like a lot of question. But there was something, maybe he could do. "No, I want you to come, but speaking of Sunflower…." He handed a folded piece of paper to her, which she took with a questioning look. "It's something that could help Sunflower's unofficial children." He gave Charlie a grateful glance.

Gwenie smiled again. "Sweet," She declared, sticking it in her coveralls, "I'll be sure to get it to her."

The end of the day, they had everything hammered. They'd start in late August, which would give the kids time to mature a little more as well as time to get everything else together. Including a 7th Grade curriculum.

That evening when Reason came to pick up Maudie, she was let in and found the Winchester men in the floor, while Maudie was pointing at an imaginary board saying, "And that's why you always have to poop in the toilet, but you can pee on plants.

"Ah, what's going on here?" Reason asked.

"They wanted to play school." Hannah explained, "We, ah, sorta had an unexpected sinence lesson today. Your, ah, grass might have got watered. "

That was when Maudie saw her mother. "Mommy!" She called out, running to her.

"Hey, there, baby girl." Reason greeted her, catching her up and hugging her, "I just heard you had an eventful day."

"Uh, huh," Maudie nodded, "We met these three girls and they're twins like DeanandCas only there's three of them and they look like each other, and…"

As she watches Maudie tell everything that happened, Hannah nearly opened her mouth to offer to take her on premately, but it wasn't the time. So, she said nothing.

Besides, they still had roughly seven months to work it all out.


	83. Back To School

**AN: I'm not sure how accurate this is. I was able to find a list of courses for various auto mechanic programs, but they didn't have a lot of detail and I have trouble finding sources, so a lot of detail is what I could find mix with my experience at community collage. (I know they at least had a metalworking program.) I apologize for any inaccuracies, as I'm sure they're there.**

Sam pulled up to into a parking space in front of the building, Reason in the passenger seat, Maudie in the back. The young mom stared out at the building, looking completely cowed. "Reason?" Sam asked, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah," Reason answered, trying to shake it off, "Just a little—nervous I guess."

"You're going to do fine." Sam assured her, "You made it this, far didn't you?"

Reason took a deep breath.

"So, uh, you got two classes today, right?" Sam asked.

"Three." Reason corrected him, "General mechanics, automotive breaks, and steering and suspension."

"And, ah, you need to be at work at two?" Sam asked.

"Don't worry, Rawls said he'd come get me to save time." Reason told him.

"Okay, but do you have a ride back for your last class?" Sam asked.

"I'll-cross that bridge when I come to it." Reason assured her.

"Just—call me if you need another ride." Sam requested.

Her stomach too much in knots to argue, Reason nodded, before getting into the back. "Okay, baby, Mommy has to go, but she will be back to get you tonight, okay?"

"Okay," Maudie agreed, as Reason pulled her into a side hug.

"Love you, Baby Girl." Reason told her.

"Love, Mommy." Maudie replied as Reason got out.  
Reason walked into the white-walled lobby of the Community Collage, tears in her eyes. She covered her face and took a deep breath. _Come on, Reason._ She told herself, _this is for Maudie._ Calming down, she walked over to an elderly woman behind a glass window. "Excuse me," She began, "Do you know where room 610 is?"

Reason walked into a sterile white classroom lined with tables, she sat down looking around. "Ah, excuse me, "She whispered over to the boy next to her, "This _is_ 610, general mechanics?"

"Yeah," The boy, a boy with a slender build but large frame with smooth brown hair, confirmed.

"But—shouldn't be in a garage or something?" Reason asked.

"It's across the way." The boy told her.  
Reason looked around again. There were about ten other people in the class, not counting her and the boy next to her, and she suddenly realized that with the except of maybe two other girls, they were all boys. She swallowed thickly.

"I'm Vinny, by the way." The boy told her, extending his hand.

Reason took. "Reason." She introduced herself as they did firm pump.

"Reason?' Vinny repeated as they pulled away, "Seriously?"

"I don't know where it came from." Reason told him.

Just then an elderly man dressed in jeans that looked like he ironed them and checkered shirt walked in and up to the front of the class, causing everyone to quiet. "Good morning," He began, "I'm Mr. Scott, and for the first few weeks here, I'll be taking roll until I can remember your names. Now, Andrews, Giovanni…."

"Here," Vinny raised his hand apprehensively, causing Reason to give him a look that said, _And you commented on MY name?_

"I know, glass houses." Vinny conceded.

It wasn't so much different from what Reason remembered from high school. The first day was mostly for going over expectations, the syllabus. They already had homework thought. The whole first chapter of the text book.

Checking her schedule and seeing Automotive Breaks was in the same room, Reason began to reading the chapter then noticed she wasn't alone. "Automotive Breaks?" She asked Matthew.

"Yeah," Matthew nodded, taking a cue from Reason and picking up his own book.

As promised, Rawls was there to pick Reason up right after class went out. "So, how'd it go?"

"Good." Reason answered, more focus on her text book than conversation.

"So, ah, you've already got homework, huh?" Rawls still tried to hold a conversation.

"Yeah," Reason responded, still not looking up.

 _Okay, fair enough._ Rawls thought, _Kid's clearly got a lot on her plate right now._

Five minutes later, Reason stood buy the car, waiting as Rawls went and knock once, paused, knocked twice, paused, and knocked one more time on a tie-died Winnebago. Not for the first time, Reason wondered if she should be here.

The door opened up by woman dressed like she stepped out of the counter cultural movement. She motioned with her head and Rawls stepped inside, then a few minutes later, walked back out, calling, "Come in."

"Please Lord, I just want to see my daughter again." Reason silently prayed before walking in.

Reason survived the Winnebago and spent the rest of the afternoon moving organic vitamins and medicinal teas back and forth, and had enough time to do the one thing she wanted to do.

"Mommy!" Maudie squealed excitedly, crawling up the stairs to get to her as her sitter called out, "Careful, careful."

Reasoned picked Maudie up and squeezed her. "There's my baby girl."

"But I thought you had to go to school." Maudie noted. Her mother had explained serval times that with school there could be a lot of more latter days and today was going to stay with the Winchesters for just a little later.

"I had enough time to come see you." Reason explained, "So, are you having a good day?"

"Huh-huh." Maudie confirmed nodded, "Dinosaurs took Dana, and…."

And so, throughout the week, things started to fall into a rhythm. Reason had the three classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and in between Automotive Breaks and Steering Suspension she worked for Rawls. Tuesday and Thursday, she worked seven to three shift at the diner and then Automotive Engines Services from three thirty to five and then Professional Automotive Writing from five to six, retrieving Maudie just in time to put her to bed.

On the second days of classes, they were already in the garage. "Okay," The teacher from 'Automotive Breaks and Steering Suspension' a man with thick black hair, by the name of Mr. Phelps, began, sliding out from under the hood of a car, "Can I get a volunteer?"

A girl with a dirty blonde bob haircut raised her hand.

"Yes, um, Allie, right?" Mr. Phelps guessed.

"Yes, sir." Allie confirmed.

"Okay, Allie, what I need you to do, is get in the car, and when I tell you, too, hit the break as hard as you can." Mr. Phelps instructed.

Allie went to the car and got in.

"Alright, Allie, not." Mr. Phelps instructed.

Allie hit the breaks as hard as she could and the car started making noise.

"Now, can anybody tell me what I did?" Mr. Phelps asked.

Serval hands shot up, including Reason, who, for a few moments, felt that she could actually pull this off.

And then Saturday happened.

Reason walked into the dinner a bit before open and saw Serena Joy at the counter, adjusting a pie topped with whipped cream and strawberries.

"Daiquiri mouse pie?" Reason asked, walking up, "Okay, what happened?" Usually when she made that particularly confection, she was upset about something.

"It's my mom." Serena Joy explained, "She keeps trying to make me have an engagement party."

"And you don't want one?" Reason guessed, going to clock in.

"No." Serena Joy confirmed, "Rawls doesn't have a lot of close realities and I don't want to make them uncomfortable, and I don't want a lot of my extended family standing around with cocktails silently judging us."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit?" Reason responded, "I mean I've met your family. As long as you don't invite your Aunt Sarah, you'll be fine."

"You met my _imitate_ family." Serena Joy pointed out, "There are at least a few that are going to be concerned about the age difference, and then there's my cusion who nearly ruined Eliza Jane's engagement party by going on and on about marriage was an antiquated concept and we all eating animal fear and poison—seriously, the whole time we lived together she didn't even bat an eye at the crap our meth-head roommate would get up to, but I bake sugar cookies and she'd have category 5 conniption, not to mention having absolutely no concept of bounties. The woman was a fanatic, and she hasn't changed a bit."

"Wait, meth-head roommate?" Reason repeated.

"Remember that—" Serena Joy began lowering her voice, "That fun fact about me about a year after we became friends? Well, I might have left a lot of details including both my roommates' contributions to my mental state. For the record, I did not about my roommate's problem until after I moved in, nor did I realize how much of a fanatic my cusion was. I'll—I'll tell you later, okay?" With that she walked off.

Shortly after that the dinner opened and people starting sprinkling for breakfast and the dinner became a bustle of activity Serena Joy and Edith running back and forth with people's orders and people inevitably spilling syrup.

Reason had just finished cleaning up the sweet brown mess when she heard the sound of something being knocked over. She turned to turned to see dark blue syrup trickling down the table.

"Who knew we even had blue berry syrup?" Reason whispered to herself a few minutes later as she worked at the blue stain that wasn't coming out.

Reason tried everything. Vinegar, peroxide bleach, but nothing would get the blue stain up. The lunch rush started coming in and she was still working on the stain. She stubbing at it with an SOS pad, of all things, when brown shoes stopped in right in front of her.

"Reason?" Vinny asked, as his classmate look, "What are you doing here?"

"Right now, trying to get the world's most suborn stain out of the floor." Reason responded, "I work here. By the way, don't order the Alfredo, just a tip."

"I'll remember that." Vinny. smiled, then concerned, asked, "Hey, how long have you been scrubbing that."

"Since, ah, the breakfast rush." Reason admitted sheepishly, "Does it look like it's coming out?"

"Maybe a little?" Vinny replied, "Hey, when do you get off?"

"Ah, eleven PM." Reason responded awkwardly, "I'm working double shifts on the weekends to make up for what I'm missing during the week." Realizing what he was getting at, she whispered, "But I should be able to take lunch after the rush dies down, assuming I'm not still working on this."

Eventually, the stain came out, and Reason was able to sit down with Vinney, offering her half of the loaf of bread made with oat and almonds, seasoned with apple cider, Serena Joy had given her.

"Wow." Vinny annoced after taking a bite of the rich, favorable bread.

"I told you." Reason declared, "I don't know how she does it."

"So how long have you been working here?" Vinny asked.

"Give me a minute." Reason began, doing match in her head, "A bit over four years."

"Four years?" Vinny repeated, "So you would've been…"

"Seventeen." Reason cut him off, "Just turned Seventeen. Vinny, I'm twenty. I'll be twenty-one in March."

"Wait, it's a one a year program." Vinny began, bewildered.

"Oh, it is," Reason assured him quickly, realizing he wasn't understanding her, "Matthew, I had drop out of high school because I got pregnant. I started working here, because—well, this is where my water broke." After a beat she added, pointing, "Actually more accurately, right over there, by the pin ball machine. "After another beat, she added, "Serena Joy got me the job. After a frankly, half-baked attempt to move up in the world, I got my GED last year, and got into the program before the spring session started. "

"Okay," Matthew began, "Sorry, I'm not—I'm not always the most observant person. I've always been better with machines, I guess." After a beat, he asked, "So when you say you got pregnant…"

"He name's Maud, she'll be four and March and I have friend who watches her while I'm at school or work." Reason explained, "And yes, I have pictures."

Just then one of the only customers currently in the diner knocked over their ice tea.

"That's my cue." Reason said, getting up, "Sorry." She snuck another bite of bread before running off.

"Thanks." Reason replied, running for the door.

For the rest of the day, Reason didn't have on break. She was running from one mess to the other or cleaning the bathrooms, and once making a run when they ran out of seasoning salt. It wasn't until roughly ten thirty, that she got sit down.

She was sitting there, eating the now slightly stale bread, reading a text book, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, startling her.

"Relax, it's just me." John told her as she spun around to see the other bus boy, "I'm here for my shift. You can go."

When Reason stumbled into the parking lot, she was surprised to see a by now familiar Impala waiting for her.

"You don't have to do this, you know." Reason told him getting in the car, "You didn't take me to raise."

"Well, I had to get out anyway, if it helps." Sam told her, "We were out of pomegranates."

"Pomegranates?" Reason repeated confused.

"Cravings." Sam explained, "Also, oddly, Hannah will crave—something salty at the same time a lot, she'll actually salt the seeds."

Reason nodded her understanding. "With me it was just the salty and sweet craving I didn't really even care what it was. Every gas station that had the salty sweet _Combos,_ you know, those little filled pretzels, I would by them out of those suckers." After a beat she added, "Also soybeans? Yeah, soybeans were my big thing. I don't even like soybeans but when I was pregnant, I couldn't get enough of them." She laughed a bit at the memory, he eyes feeling heavy.

When Reason got up that morning she groaned, forcing herself out of the bed. Her body ached, and even though she had fallen asleep, she felt like she hadn't slept at all. "Maudie," She called out softly, nudging her gently, "Time to get up, baby girl."

Reason managed to get Maudie dropped off at the Winchesters and made it into work an time, chugging an extra can of café mocha—the self heating cans in her cellar didn't have just plain coffee—trying to get herself awake.

"Oh, good you're here." Karine announced as she clocked. "We already got a mess on the floor."

Sure enough, in the middle of the dinning room floor, there was big, red splash of sauce on the floor.

"What the-" Reason began, running for the cleaning closet, "How—"

"Never mind how, just clean it up!" Karine snapped.

"Karine," Jerry began sticking the upper half of his body out the kitchen window, "Can you _not_ be yourself this early in the morning?"

In spite of herself, Reason couldn't help but giggle as she began to mop up the sauce.

The sauce wasn't the only mess left over from the night before. Reason spent the majority of the morning scrapping gum from underneath the tables, running back and forth between that task and cleaning up various spills, and cleaning the tops of tables. She was going to one of those tables when slid on something slick, lost her footing, and fell, hard.

She made so much noise when she fell that Jerry and Logan came running from the kitchen, Lucy, the other waitress on duty and even Karine came running over to her. "You okay, kid?" Lucy asked, helping her up.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Jerry asked, holding out a accidently peace sign.

"Ah, two?" Reason answered hopefully.

"She's good." Jerry declared.

Satisfied that she was okay, they all split up, going back to their work.

Finally around the shift change, Reason got a chance to sit down. Pulling out her day planner, she looked at her assignments, the ones she had completed, checked off. Most of them were checked off, but then she noticed there was one big assignment she hadn't checked off.

The reading for general mechanics. The reading that they were suppose to have their first quiz over Monday. Which was the next day.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Reason lamented aloud, panicked, pulling out the text book. Maybe just maybe, she could get most of it read before the dinner rush.

However, Reason just couldn't focus. She read the same passage three times without even meaning to. And nothing was getting through.

She was still struggling, when Serena Joy clocked in, and after sitting the desserts on the cake plates, walked over to Reason and sild into the booth. "Okay, so, Melissa was daughter of friend of a friend of my Mom's. When the friend of my Mom's heard that I was looking for a place to rent near the campus…"

"Ughhh!" Reason exclaimed, unaware if Serena Joy's presence.

Immediately Serena Joy recognized something was wrong. "Hey, you okay there, kid?" Serena Joy asked, lifting up Reason's face.

"No," Reason responded, "I just realized I nearly missed this massive reading assignment, but I'm so tired I can't see straight, and there's gonna be an mess any minute and I—I—" After a minute, she got herself enough together to say, "I was stupid to think I can do this, wasn't I?"

"No, no, no, no." Serena Joy responded, "Okay, here's what we're gonna do first. We're gonna take a deep breath in."

Reason followed the instructions, inhaling.

"And a deep breath out." Serena Joy instructed

Reason obeyed, exhaling.

"Now," Serena Joy began, "Repeat after me. God, give me…"

"God, give me the Serenity to accept the things I can't change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Reason recited, actually feeling a little better.

"Now," Serena Joy began, "Let's see if we can tackle this."

Serena Joy spent the next hour or so helping Reason study, before the dinner rush came in. Reason sent most of the time after that at the kitchen washing dishes.

Placing the final dish on the dry rack, roughly about nine PM, Reason let took out the plug with a since of satisfaction, before stepping outside of the kitchen.

The next day, Reason circled parts on cars, and letters just to multiple choice answered. To her surprised, she found herself actually able to recall most of the information.

"So, how do you think you did?" Vinny said, sitting next to Reason again as they waited for their next class.

"I think I actually did fine." Reason answered, then I occurred to her, "That reminds me, someone wanted to know when the quiz was done." She pulled out her phone and dialed a familiar number. "Hey, Hannah, the kids are you right? Would you mind putting Maudie on? I told her I would call her."

Hannah handed the phone down to Maudie. "Hey, Maudie, it's Mommy. "

Maudie took the phone and somewhat awkwardly held it to the side of her. "Hi, Mommy!"

"Hey, baby girl." Reason smiled.


	84. Four Years Apart

Serena Joy opened the doors where a Hannah was waiting with two, really egger looking newly four-year-olds.

"Come on in, fellas." Serena Joy greeted them brightly, "Happy birthday!"

"Thank you so much for doing this." Hannah told her, walking the boys inside.

"Consider it a birthday present." Serena Joy responded, "Now, come on birthday baking minions." Walking them into the kitchen, she added, "Because we're on a deadline, I already got some things started, but there's still plenty for you to do."

What there was to do apparently, was putting the blue food coloring in the bowl of ingredients which both boys did a little generously, then mixing everything together and putting in pans, then putting the pans in the oven.

As the boys watched the over eagerly, Serena Joy sat down with Hannah, each holding steaming ups. "So, forgive me if this is none of my business, but Reason said something about Sam being out of town?"

"He just got back in last night." Hannah told answered, "It's a long story."

Hannah had pratically had to push him out the door this year, but she was afraid that if he didn't make the sad yearly voyage, he would come to regret it eventually, no matter how much he protested. He called from the road every hour pratically to check in, and if she was being honest, she had been doing the math in her head and was starting to wonder if he, had time to sleep.

"He went ahead to the park to stake out a spot." Hannah continued.

"Ah," Serena Joy responded, nodding, then addressing the boys, "Hey, guys, this is gonna take minute, you might want to find something else to do for a while."

Just them, her kitten padded in from a bedroom, letting himself known with loud, "Mew!"

Both boys turned to look at it. "Can we play with the kitty?"

"Just be careful with him." Serena Joy instructed, "Cupcake's still a baby."

"And Dean, let me know if you start feeling bad okay?" Hannah requested. Dean's cat allergies had been rather mild before, and they had given him children's _Benadryl_ before coming over, but she didn't want to take any chances.

They children nodded in agreement before running over to Cupcake, who soaked up the petting.  
Meanwhile, Sam was standing under the picnic shelter, zipping up his coat and wondering if having it at the park had been a good idea. He sat the gifts that they had gotten for the boys, then sat down, waiting.

"Hey," A voice called from behind him, "Want some company?"

He turned around to see Charlie approaching with brightly colored bag.

"Hey," Sam began, hugging her she got close enough, "The boys are going to be so excited to see you. I thought you couldn't make it. What happened to Rhinelander?"

"I came, I saw, I conquered, I picked up some hodag merch at one of the many tourist traps before heading out of town, because I am an awesome aunt." Charlie explained, putting the bag down on one of the tables.

Meanwhile, inside a 1970s Winnebago, the leather and wood and everything else inside faded with age, Abigail was sitting in the driver's seat, staring at a plush Pikachu holding a specially made bouquet spottily. Getting, up she walked back to the living room/kitchen table, when Melanie was sat in the table bench, her hands in her lap with yellow ropes coiled around her wrist, a few cords a yellow also pinning her arms to her sides, as well binding her ankles, with a black cloth in her mouth. The terrified physic tried to rear back as Abigail reached out, and pulled the gag out of her mouth. "Mel, do you think this is okay? " Abigail asked, holding out the Pikachu, "I mean, I don't even know if these kids even _like_ Pokémon, but I honestly have no clue what to get for a boy because I've never had to shop for a boy before, and maybe I should have gotten each of them one, I just don't know how to shop for twins."

After New Year's Abigail called Oliva and convinced her that she had "come to her senses" but needed some time to herself to clear her head, and was traveling the old Winnebago, crashing at a couple of the old places, which was technically true. They were isolated enough that she could do what she needed to them. Oliva had been too relieved to question it; thought she worried her sister suspected there was more to what she was saying. Tabbris, she still knew how to play when she needed to apparently, setting her plan into motion. All the while dragging Melanie either restrained in some form or fashion, or drugged, forced to divine whatever Abigail could get her hands, tea leaves, sand, pebbles, coffee grounds, even animal organs, to figure out where she was supposed to go. All the leads were currently tapped to the cabinets in the Winnebago kitchen area connected with bits of strings and sticky notes, trying to make sense of it all.

"Help!" Melanie started screaming immediately, "Somebody help me—" She was cut off by a slap in the face.

"Hey!" Abigail snapped, "If you're not going to be helpful, this goes back in." She held up the gag, in case that wasn't evident.

"Please, just stop this." Melanie pleaded, "You don't have to do this. You haven't done anything yet. Just let me go, I won't tell anyone and go with your life. If you really think the baby is in trouble, you can do it some other way—" She was cut off by the gag being shoved in her mouth and tied back into place.

"You know what, I'm just going to chance it." Abigail declared, before walking away.

Meanwhile, back Serena Joy's apartment, everyone was blissfully unaware of Abigail's misguided schemes. In fact, the woman was the furthest thing for their minds. Today was all about Dean and Castiel.

Currently, after letting the cake cool and washing their hands, the two toddlers were smoothing white icing onto a light blue cake, with a little help from their mother and he friend.

"Nice job fellas." Serena Joy praised, as they finished up, "I think she's about ready to go."

"Aw!" Both boys lamented, saddened that there was no more to do.

"Come on little ones." Hannah said, taking them each by the hand, "You don't want to be late for your own birthday party."

Both boys lit up at that, happily complying.

Proving Sam to be right, the boys were ecstatic to see Charlie, running to her squealing happily. "You maded it!" Cas exclaimed and Charlie wrapped her arms around them both.

"Oft!" Was all Charlie could get out, having to fight to stay upright from the force of children.

"Guys, be careful with Aunt Charlie." Sam warned him, "She's not unbreakable."

The boys grinned up at her, before pulling her towards the playground. "Come play with us!" Dean requested.

"Yes, come!" Cas added.

"Come, come, come!" Dean repeated.

The trio were on the slide when Reason and Maudie came walking off. "Go play." Reason told her, taking the harness, "I'll be over here, okay?"

"Okay." Maudie agreed, running for her friends calling out, "Dean! Cas!"

The boys immediately ran for her, hugging her. "Aunt Charlie's here!" Dean announced, pulling her towards the woman.

"Hi." Maudie greeted the adult, giving her a wave.

Meanwhile, Reason was sitting a heavily taped package down on the slowly growing gift pile. "Maudie wanted to help with the wrapping," She explained as she did so, "So, how's the back?"

"Better today, actually." Hannah answered, resting one hand on her stomach.

Just then, Charlie walked up to them. "Hey, ah, Reason, while I was in Wisconsin, I, ah, picked up a little extra something for Maudie." She then pulled out a 7.5 dark green monster with four legs, white felt spines going down its back, white felt tusk sticking out of growling mouth of stitched fangs framed with red stitched lips, black dog-like plastic noised and stitched yellow orange eyes.

"You really shouldn't have." Reason told her, touched, taking, "But, um, not to sound ungrateful, but, uh, what is it?"

"It's a hodag." Charlie explained, "Aside from a few zombies, this little guy has been the main monster roaming Rhinelander Wisconsin since the 1800s, likes to snack on white bull dogs, can be taken out with dynamite, and the annual festival for it, makes the town a lot of money. "After a beat she added, "Got a couple more just like for the boys in the bag."

"I'll give it to her later, okay?" Reason responded, putting the creature in her back pack for now, "But I'll make sure she knows where it comes from.""

That was when a voice from behind them said, "Nice set up, guys."

They all turned around to see Abigail, standing there apprehensively, clutching a plush Pikachu with a bouquet of Japanese roses, which don't really look like roses in at all, just generic purplish flowers, sunny yellow primrose and purple sprigs of lavender surrounded with green chrysanthemum leaf, peach leaves, and bramble leaf attached to it.

"Look, I'm sorry, I know how inappropriate this probably is." Abigail began, "I just—I couldn't take it anymore. I-I needed to come apologize for those awful things I said the last time I was here."

"Ah, guys," Reason spoke up softly, "What's—"

"Reason, Charlie, this is Abigail Keaton, Jane's mother." Sam responded, an angry look on his face.

"Tabbris' ex." Hannah elaborated, as Jane was a common name.

"Ohhhh." Reason and Charlie both responded. "I am so, sorry about— "Reason began, not even sure what to say.

"Thank you." Abigail cut her off, before addressing the Winchesters, "But it was no excuse for what I said. I let my emotions get the best of me and said things that were not only out of line but unfair to you both and untrue. I apologize." She set the toy and flowers down and began to walk away, feeling like she was about to puke.

"Abigail, wait—" Hannah called out.

"Hannah, what are you doing?" Sam whispered over to her, still angry about what Abigail had said to him.  
"Sam, what if one of our boys?" Hannah pointed out.

Sam froze at that, staring at him, and realized that it was only be sheer luck or maybe even but for the grace of God, that he wasn't Abigail. If one of his sons or his daughter died like that, if he outlived anyone of them, he'd probably be bitter too. Getting up he walked over to her. "Apology accepted."

Tears began to well up in Abigail's eyes. "Thank you."

"Come, you can put the toy with the rest of the stuff." Sam offered.

"I can't stay long." Abigail warned, "I know this is a big day for the boys." She picked up the plush and sat it on the table she gathered was for gifts. "I hope it's okay. I didn't know what they liked."

"They're moderately into the show, the fights at least." Sam told her, "Usually when anything plot related happens, they'll onto something else. Can I ask about the—" He gestured to the flowers.

"Oh, it's sort of a combined happy birthday, I'm sorry nosegay." Abigail explained, "Flower arrangement is sort of a hobby of mine."

"Tabbris told us." Hannah spoke up, "He brought the one who you made for the baby. It was very beautiful."

"Thanks." Abigail replied, before changing the subject, "So, ah, when you are you due?"

"We set the date for March 30th." Hannah answered.

As something occurred to Charlie, she started doing math in her head, and smirked.

"What?" Sam asked, catching the smirk.

"I just realized that makes the age difference between her and the boys four years, two months." Charlie explained, "Four years, three months if you round up."

"Yeah," Sam began still not getting it, "So?"

"That means they're only one to two months off from having the exact same age difference as you and Dean." Charlie pointed out.

Sam started doing the math.

"I'm sorry, what is going on here?" Abigail asked good naturedly, but confused.

"Remember before Dean was Sam's son, he was his brother." Reason reminded her, "As much since as that makes."

"Yeah, Dean was the older the one." Sam explained, "We were four years apart. Four years four months."

Abigail's eyes went back and forth. "Huh."

"It's a coincidence, I swear." Sam told her, "We did not plan this at all."  
Just then two cars pulled up.

"That's my cue." Abigail said, hurrying off before they could stop her.

As Jody, Alex, and Elsbeth approached the adults, Vanessa, Scarlet and Dory ran for the birthday boys and Maudie. "Happy, birthday!" Vanessa exclaimed as Scarlet went in for a hug on Dean and Cas hugged Dory.

As the kids took turns on the little bouncy horses at the end of the play set, one last car pulled up. Cal got out of the driver's side as Adele got out of the shotgun seat, holding her son. "Okay, now, there's gonna be a lot of other kids here, but it's going to be okay, they're all nice." She was telling him, hopping she was telling the truth, "You sure you don't want to leave the bear in the car?"

Jerod shook his head.

"You want Mommy to walk you over there?" Adele offered, setting him down.

"Huh-un." Jerod answered taking her hand.

Cas the first to noticed their new friend coming over, walking over there himself, clutching coat.

"Hey, "Adele began, "Castiel, right? And your brother's Dean?"

Cas nodded, the pointed to the group. "And that's Maudie, Vanessa, Scarlet and Dory."

Seeing her friend talking to the strange woman, Dory started over.

"Hey, honey," Adele greeted her, "I see you both have little friends, there? They got names?"

"This is Coat and Dory's is Bambi." Cas answered for them both, "Dory don't talk much."

"I like your deer." Jerod told her.

"I like your bear." Dory spoke up.

"You wanna play?" Cas asked.

"Sure." Jerod answered and with that, the Comfort Object Brigade, including their new member, took off.

"Hey," Cal called out as he walked off, carrying a jug labeled _Vinger_ filled with something red, "I know you, ah, said not to bring anything, but, um, Adele made _Kool-Aid_ anyway."

"Ah, thanks." Sam said, taking it from him, "Ah, what's with the vinegar label."

"I made it with one of the empties I filled up with water." Adele explained, walking up, "You know, waste not want not."

"Can I ask— "Charlie began.

"You know pancake mix and maple syrup keeps forever?" Adele remined her, "So does _Kool-Aid_ powder. Nice to have around when you have a kid." After a beat, she asked, "Ah, probably a bad time to ask, but what's your stance on candy cigarettes and cigar gum?"

Shortly after that, the kids noticed who else had shown up, running for Alex. "Hey, guys, happy birthday." She told the two toddlers wrapped around her legs.

"You want to come play?" Dean asked.

"Sure." Alex agreed, letting them drag her off.

"Aunt Charlie, come too!" Cas called out, still pulling at Alex.

"I got to go guys; I'm being summoned." Charlie told the adults, going off to join them.

"A whole park full of kids and they still want Alex and Charlie." Sam grinned, amused.

A few minutes later, Sam left and came back with a stack of pizza boxes. "Kids," Hannah called out, "Lunch is here."

The kids came running and the adults tried to get them in an orderly line, which proved liked heading cats, but the pizza got disturbed then the adults took their, Sam pulling out a box from the bottom and opening it, presenting it to Hannah and pointing it to one side. "No sauce, no spices."

"Thank you." Hannah responded, taking it, "Sam Winchester, you are a prince among men." Tomato sauce of any kind as well as garlic and most other spices one usually found on pizza, had been her enemy for the past month or so.

As they eat, Adele let out a moan of pleasure after biting off a piece of pepperoni pizza.

"Ah, you okay there, Adele?" Elsbeth asked slowly.

"Oh, yeah, just—this is my first slice of pizza in five years." Adele explained.

Elsbeth's eyes darted around, but decided not to question it.

Jerod also was enjoying his pizza, and took a bit of pepperoni off and decided his friend should try some too, taking a bit of topping and trying to feed it to his bear.

"Jerod don't feed the pizza to Yellow Eyes." Adele requested, "That's gonna be impossible to clean out."

Shocked, Sam spewed out the _Kool-Aid_ he had been drinking across the part. Hannah out a hand on his knee, looking at him concerned.

"It's okay," Sam assured her, "It's okay, I'm okay. I just—wasn't expecting that."

"Ah, what did I say?" Adele asked, having a feeling it had something to do with what she had said.

Since Cal was between them, Charlie whispered to him, giving a brief explation. "What kind of—" Cal began.

"Ah," Charlie warned, gesturing to Elsbeth, the honorary not in the know civilian among the adults, and then to the kids, whose exact knowledge of the supernatural world varied.

"Right," Cal replied them whispered the situation to Adele, who covered her month in horror. "Sam, I—"

"It's okay." Sam assured her, "It's not like that was his real name anyway. Plus, it's better name for the little guy then Plaid Skin." He wasn't about to make a big deal out of an innocent child naming him innocent bear, an innocent-sounding thing.

"Why do I feel like I missed something important?" Elsbeth spoke up.

"I'll tell you later." Hannah told her.

Pausing a moment, Elsbeth said, "You know, one of these days you're going to actually have to tell me later."

In a moment of complete honesty, Hannah said, "Yes, and I fear that day because you are going to pick up your girls and run screaming."

Elsbeth gave her a synthetic look. "I'm sure it's not that bad."

After lunch, like last year they asked if they boys wanted to eat cake first or open presents, and this time they were both in agreement. "Cake!"

Surrounded by their parents, friends, friends' parents and extended family, Sam put the cake in front of him as everybody singed, some of them off-key, " _Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday Dean and Cas. Happy birthday to you."_

Both of them blew out the candle at the same, managing to mostly get it out on the first try. They were also better as eating the cake this year, using plastic forks and not getting as messy.

After cleaning up the plates, Dean and Cas was sat on the bench of the table the adults had stacked the presents on.

"Okay," Sam began, picking up a bag with balloons on it, "This one's from Miss Jody and Alex."

The boys pulled out the milky white tissue paper, and Dean pulled out a plush elephant of colored squares, and a book with the same elephant on it, pratically hidden on the patchwork background. _Elmer_ , it read.

"They match!" Dean declared happily, squeezing the elephant.

"Yeah, bud." Sam agreed, trying to figure out why the book looked so familiar.

"What do you say?" Hannah prompted.

"Thank you!" The boys both chimed.

Pulling out a wrapped package, as they had a few more than last few to get through. "And this one is from Mommy and Daddy."

They unwrapped the paper with slightly more persidion than last year, thought it did go everywhere, revealing a box with pictures of little cards on it. "Thank you!" Dean exclaimed, "What is it?'

"Remember how you guys saw those _Legos_ on TV?" Sam asked. They tried to moderate the kid's TV intake to reasonable level, especially when it came to adds, they had saw adds for Lego Jr. and began fascinated with them.

The boys face lit up again. "Thank you!" The both squealed.

As the rest of the gifts were unwrapped, each was given its proper due, both boys knee deep in _Legos_ (Elsbeth and the girls and Reason and Maudie both got the boys _Lego_ sets), candy, (Charlie had brought hodag shaped chocolates along with the plushes, Tova had sent a box of Turkish delight, and Adele and Jerod had, as warned brought the boys serval boxes of candy cigarettes, gums cigars seemingly in every flavor known to man, along with chocolate, licorice and spearmint mints, and two sets of homemade Tommy Walkers), a remote control jeep, (Garth sent it) , and plush Stich found a place next to the hodags and Pikachu.

"How have the kids not seen _Lilo & Stich?" _ Serena Joy, the giver of the plush, was asking Sam and Hannah in disbelief, "It's iconic! It's a classic!"

"Aren't their a few intense moments in that one?" Hannah asked, "Don't you think they're a bit young for that?"

"There are intense scenes in _Frozen."_ Serena Joy pointed out, "You let them watch that."

"Touché." Hannah conceded.

"We'll—work on remedying the situation." Sam promised.

Meanwhile, Dory had climbed up next to Cas, both of them examining the Pikachu and the bouquet. Cas side out a Japanese rose, handing it to Dory. "You can have it."

Dory shook her head. "It's yours."

"I want you to have it." Cas insisted.

Seeing the exchanged Vanessa asked, "Let me see that for a moment." Dory handed Vanessa the rose, and she put it in her baby sister's hair. "There you go. "Vanessa declared, "You're as pretty as picture."

Meanwhile, Dean had worked the lid off of the Turkish Delight box. Taking one out, he handed it out to Maudie, "You want some?"

Maudie slid up next to him and took it, sticking it in her mouth. It felt funny, its kind of tasted like oranges.

Taking out another one, Dean handed it to Scarlet.

By time they were finished, every child at the party had gotten a flower from the bouquet, a piece of Turkish Delight and several candy cigarettes.

"That was very sweet of you, boys." Hannah told them as they sat next to her, munching on their candy, "I'm proud of you."

"Why?" Dean asked.

"For being so generous with your friends." Hannah explained.

Both boys grinned. It made them happy that they made Mommy happy

That was when Scarlet ran up, "Hey, guys, you want to head back to the playground?"

They didn't have to be told twice, running for the playground.

They children played for about another hour or so, before it started getting late and the party broke up.

"So, you have a good birthday, guys?" Sam asked, looking at the kids in the back seat, sitting next to pile of parents.

"Un-huh." Dean answered, Cas nodding.

By the time they got to the bunker, both kids were asleep.

"You want to make the block?" Hannah suggested.

"You know that's not a bad idea." Sam replied, driving past their destination.

Meanwhile, Abigail put a silver-colored kettle on in the kitchen of her Winnebago.

Melanie was sill sat at the table—not for a lack of trying while her captor was away—whimpering, her eyes darting around the room. Abigail had been on edge ever since she got back. She winched as Abigail cut open a tea bag.

Reaching on the cabinet Abigail picked up a bad of pit sticky notes, and wrote _March 30_ _th_ on it, before sticking it to the note covered cabinets.

"March 30th." Abigail repeated staring at the notes, "We got until March 30th…."


	85. Magda

Sam his held his breathe as he boiled a mixture of waxy scarlet red cap mushrooms, light purple fungus that came up in flat sticks as well as regular mushrooms that were known for their immune boosting properties –shiitake buttons, lion's mane.

Just then, Dean came marching into the kitchen, which Cas walking behind him, a jump rope loosely coiled around the little angel's waist, which Dean was leading him around by.

"Hey, guys," Sam greeted them, "What are you doing?"

"I'm a Viking and Cas is my slave now." Dean declared victoriously.

"Huh?" Sam responded, wondering if letting them watch _Horrible Histories_ was a good idea.

"I beat him, that's the rule." Dean explained, as if that made any more sense.

"I want to be the Viking for a while!" Cas complained.

"Dean, be nice, let Cas be the Viking for a while." Sam told him.

"Ah, okay." Dean lamented, trying to figure out how to get the jump rope off of Cas. He was better at letting in on then he was getting it off, "But you got to fight me."

"Okay." Cas agreed, happily.

Just then Sam's cell rang. Answering it, he said, "Hey, Charlie."

"Hey, Sam." Charlie began sat an island table covered with white tile, her eyes darting to the drugged-up girl lying on her stomach on the table, "I need your help, but it's a little unusual."

That night, Sam was at the door, where Charlie was standing holding a dark-haired girl of about fourteen, wearing a blue dress that had been cut open in the back, revealing white bananages covering most of her back.

"You can put her in here." Sam was saying, leading Charlie down the hall with the unconscious founding.

"Thanks again, for this." Charlie responded as they walked into one of the bedrooms. As she laid her down, she explained, "Bonnie's sister said it could've been a lot worse, but until they heal sleeping on her stomach's advised."

Sitting down at the kitchen table, Charlie explained the situation in more detail.

"I was working a case in Iowa." The redhead began, "A priest had reported that one of his congregants died after showing a stigmata and being whipped by an unseen force while shouting for God to save her in Aramaic. At first I thought a Wiccan co-worker might be involved for a hot minute, but there was no motive, no real hex bags, vic had a lot of other enemies because she worked for CPS, and with the rise in New Age Paganism a candle isn't exactly a smoking gun, and then another vic dropped with no relation to said New Ager, but both vics had a connection to the family of local off the grid one family cult. The story was that their daughter died of pneumonia because they wouldn't get her medical help, so we were thinking vengeful spirit."

"Wait, we?" Sam cut her off.

"Bonnie and Clive showed up just before the second body dropped." Charlie explained, "Her sister I mentioned earlier read about the case online and sent it to them. They're back in town monitoring the trail. Long story short, turns out, the daughter was alive and is currently sleeping in your guess room. She's physic, telekinetic of some kind it looks like, but she can also read minds, from what we got out of her. Mom thought she was possessed by Devil, that she _was_ the Devil, at least that's what she says, so she locked her in the basement and made her flog herself. We found her in the basement living like a prisoner. She was trying to get their attention, their help. So, when the parents caught us, we gave them a rather violent piece of our minds, sent the brother on his way to their aunt's, faked Magda's death again and I took her to Bonnie's sister who's a NP to fix her back up. It—It was bad. I didn't knpow how she could stand to have her hair touch it. I still don't even with the bandages. "

"Why didn't you just send her to her aunt's too?" Hannah asked.

"Magda might not have meant any harm, but she needs to learn to control her powers, so nothing like this happens again." Charlie responded, "She needs to learn how to control her powers and she's not going to be able to do that in the middle of a media circus, which also might end in the discover of the supernatural world."

"Media circus?" Hannah repeated, mystified.

"Bonnie pointed out that this might be the kind of story that the 24-hour news cycle might eat up." Charlie responded, "Photogenic teen girl, held captive and tortured by her family on the crazy religious fringe, who managed to successfully fake her death, at least one government agency failing spectacularly? At the time I thought she was over reacting, but I stopped for gas in a coffee on the way here, those nut jobs were plastered all over the TV. Plus—this kid is so screwed up she actually believes she's evil. That she deserved everything that happened. We had to actually restrain her to rescue her! I know this is a big ask, but could I keep her here while her back heals and I figure out what the plan is?"

"Of course." Sam said, without hesitation.

Hannah, however, stiffened. "Ah, Sam, can I see outside for a minute?"

"Sure." Sam replied, realizing she was agitated about something.

The couple went outside the kitchen and when they a few feet away, Hannah whispered so that Charlie couldn't here, "Did you really just make that decision unilaterally without consulting me?"

"Sorry, but I thought you'd be in agreement." Sam apologized, realizing that maybe he overstepped, but still pretty certain of his decision.

"Look, I feel sorry for the girl, what happened to her was horrible." Hannah conceded, "But Charlie said it herself, she's volatile, she's already accidently killed two people trying to send out an SOS and we have the boys to think about. She could go off and accidently hurt them."

Sam paused. He hadn't thought about that. "You're right," He conceded "But I still want to try to help. I can't just leave Charlie out in the cold, and the girl…just give a minute to think." He began to pace the floor. "Well, maybe we could just –make sure they stayed separate. Make sure they're out of the line of fire."

"That didn't help the CPS agent, or the other victim." Hannah pointed out.

"Right." Sam agreed, "Well, ah-I need another minute." He continued to paste. "Maybe I can set them up in town—"

"You know, I can leave if you need me to." Charlie said, stepping out, "I understand completely. I'll…I'll figure something else out."

The Winchesters were silent for a moment. Hannah knew that Charlie wouldn't put the boys in risk. "No, you can stay. We'll…will make it work."

When Magda Pearson woke up, she found herself staring into a bridge pillow sheet she didn't recognize. For a moment she wasn't sure where she was or how she had gotten here, but then remembered what happened:

" _You're not taking her anywhere!" Gail screamed at the trio in front of her, the couple holding guns on her family, even as her father held a gun on them, and Charlie held Magda, who was struggling to get free._

" _Please," Magda moaned, "You said you fight evil!"_

 _Meanwhile, Clive and Bonnie exchanged looks, Clive nodding glaring at her parents. "Abraham, you seem like a reasonable guy to me. Your daughter needs help."_

" _What do you think you've been doing all these years?" Abraham responded, not dropping the gun._

" _You have any idea what she's done?" Gail seethed, "Don't you understand that by keeping her here, we're protecting you?"_

" _By doing what?" Charlie challenged, "Beating the Hell of out her?" She maneuvered carefully, trying to keep Magda from escaping her grasp while not injuring her further or aggravating the injuries she had._

" _Pain purges sin." Gail declared with certainty._

" _What Bible have you been reading?" Clive questioned, "Leviticus, 19: 28: 'You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves.' There are cuts on her body made over dead people. If anything, you made her sin more!"_

 _Magda stopped struggling for a moment, stunned at the accusation. She wasn't sure if she had ever heard that verse before._

 _Gail opened her mouth as if to respond, but wound up just gapping, her mind grasping her a respond. Like most fringe cults, her theology fell apart in the fact of contradicting scripture. Or a translation dictionary. Or both._

" _In fact, wasn't it the pagans who harm themselves?" Clive continued, on a roll, "1 Kings, 18:24-29. 'Then call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the to the wood is the true God! And the people agreed. The Elijah said to the prophets of Baal…."_

 _No one had noticed, distracted by Clive's display, but Bonnie had snuck off to the side, picking up a vase of flowers. At least they didn't notice until she sent it crashing down on Gail's head, effectively knocking her out. Abraham whirled, about to shoot when Clive pistol whipped him, sending him to the ground. Then he walked over and grabbed Magda' s brother, Elijah, by the collar. "Come on."_

" _Let go of me!" Elijah protested, fighting back against the hunter._

" _Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you." Clive assured him, before throwing the teen into the nearest bedroom, quickly shutting the door and putting a chair in front of it, "That should hold him until we figure out our next move."_

" _Let him go!" Magda protested, beginning to fight again._

 _Suddenly the chair was thrown across the room. Thinking fast Clive threw himself against the door. "Alright, I'll hold down the fort, you get her out of here!"_

 _The women dragged Magda out of the house kicking and screaming, reasoning, begging. They didn't understand what they were doing. She was too dangerous to be let out._

" _Please," Magda pleaded desperately, as they dragged her to a yellow bug, "Please don't hurt my family."_

" _Honey, we're not going to hurt them Charlie assured her, finally loosening her grip, but keeping a hand wrapped around one of Magda's arms, "Now, can we look at your back again, please? Humor us."_

 _Not knowing what else to do, Magda complied, letting herself be positioned in the front passenger seat a Bonnie went to get a first aid kit. "Magda?" Charlie continued " We're gonna take a closer look at these okay? We're not going to hurt you, but it might sting, okay?"_

 _Magda nodded, and by them Bonnie came back. As the women examined her, they soon changed their tune._

" _This girl needs expertise." Charlie declared, "This is above our paygrade."_

" _Alright," Bonnie began, forming a plan, "Bilhah, my sister who tipped us off us is less than a day's drive away. She's a nurse practitioner, her husband's an ER doctor, they've done me favors a couple of times, no questions asked."_

" _Why don't we just take her to a hospital?" Charlie asked._

 _The thought of being taken back into world again sent Magda into a panic, and she knocked them down._

" _Well, for starters, that." Bonnie responded, getting up and running back to her own car, while Charlie handled the girl, having to grabbed her by the wrists. "Magda, clam down! Clam down!" The redhead was nearly thrown again, but braced herself against the dashboard. "Magda, stop that!"_

" _I can't!" Magda screamed._

" _Yes, you can." Charlie urged, "You can control it!" When the teen shook her head, Charlie added, "Please, just try. Just—focus."_

 _Magda stopped, and Charlie nearly fell over her. "See?"_

 _Just then Bonnie came back with a syringe. "We okay here?"_

" _Yeah," Charlie responded, "We're okay."_

" _I think I'm still gonna give her this anyway." Bonnie replied, leaning towards Magda's neck._

 _Too weak to fight back at that point, the next thing She was aware of slight pinch her neck, then everything fading to black._

Magda managed to get up, despite the pain, and walked to the doorway. "Charlie?" She called out softly, confused and afraid. She stared out at a long beige and gray hallway. Where was she? Could she go after Charlie? Was she aloud out of this room? She didn't know. And she was afraid to try.

Magda stood there for a moment, too scared to move, before tentively taking a step out then the other, walking down the hall. She was still a little out of it from the varying sedatives they had been almost constantly giving her, for the pain and to keep her compliant, causing her to nearly topple over, but she was able to steady herself. "Charlie!" She called out again, her voice getting a little louder, though not loud enough for her guardian to hear her from where she was.

Magda wobbled down the hall after tall, when at last she finally saw something, causing her to stop. At the end of the hall, was Charlie, along with a very tall, very board-shouldered man, and a curly haired woman that as Magda got closer, she could see was round with pregnancy. When they saw her, Charlie ran to her, taking her arm and helping her steading herself. "Sorry, I meant to be back by the time you woke up. How are you feeling?"

"Still kind of foggy." Magda told her as she was led down the hall, "Uh, where are we?"

"It's a…bunker of sorts." Charlie explained, walking her down the rest of the hall to the kitchen, "My friend inherited it from his grandfather in a roundabout way. Don't worry, we're not gonna give you any more drugs. Not for now at least." She sat the teen down in a kitchen chair, then said, "Charlie, I want you to meet some friends of mine. This is Sam Winchester, he's a hunter like me, semi-retired, and his wife Hannah."

"It's very nice to meet you, Magda." Sam told her softly, keeping his distance at to not intimate the girl.

"You shouldn't have given us shelter." Magda told them in a monotone, matter of fact way, "I'll only bring you pain. I'm the devil."

"No." Sam told her, "No, you're not. You're really not."

"Trust us." Hannah added, "You're not."

"He's inside me." Magda insisted in that sober, casual tone, "I can hear him whispering. He lets me hear what people are thinking. He's let me do things."

"Magda…we've talked about this." Charlie told her, "You're not the devil. You're just physic. And that's a scary concept to work your head around probably, but you can learn how to control it. You don't have to hurt anyone, again. And I'm going to be with you every step of the way. We're going to help you."

"H-How?" Magda asked, part protests, part hope.

Charlie was silent for a moment. "I haven't got all that worked out yet. "Charlie admitted, before turning to the counter as she said, "But I can start by getting you your vitamins."

Along with the lashes, which were the most worrisome, Magda was malnourished, with a vitamin D deficiency from being locked up for so long, even with the sun light from the window, though the Bilhah told her it could've been a lot worst, all things considered. Thank God for small mercies, Charlie supposed.

Sam glanced off to where he had put his preparations of the medicinal concoctions to the side. One of the formulas Annamaria had sent him was for a multivitamin, and another was for a solution that actually sped up the healing processing by stimulating cell growth. Maybe they should add that Magda's regimen…

"Who's Annamaria?" Magda asked.

"Did you—" Sam began surprised, "Did you just read my mind?"

"I can hear all of you." Magda admitted, "And there's these—colors."

"That's probably me." Hannah spoke up, "My—my minfd. I'll just step out, check on the kids, maybe that'll help. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Charlie assured her, before tending to Magda.

No one got slept well that night. Charlie was up and down seeing to Magda and lying awake in bed trying to figure out how to help her, Magda kept praying for her own forgiveness and for her Charlie and the other to 'come to their senses' and Hannah wound up intercepting her prayers, crying for the child, and Sam stayed up comforting his wife and trying to figure out a plan.

So, it was no wonder that everyone was on auto pilot, Charlie starring into a cup of coffee as she talked to Clive on the phone. "Wait, what thirty exam?"

"730 exam." Clive repeated, "It's a mental competency exam to see if a defendant is too bat crap crazy to aid in their own defense or not."

"Well, what happens if they're too bat crap crazy to aid in their own defense?" Charlie asked, worried in a bit frustrated.

At the kitchen table, Dean was bouncing his spoon in the oatmeal cheerily singing, " _Divorced beheaded and died. Divorced beheaded survived…"_

"How should I know?" Clive responded, "I'm not a legal expert, I barely watch _Law & Order._"

"… _. I'm Henry the eight, I had six sorry wives, some might say I ruined their lives…."_ Dean continued to sing.

"Dean, please," Sam finally spoke up, groggy, "Aunt Charlie's on the phone."

"How's the kid, anyway?" Clive asked.

"Horrible." Charlie answered, "She still thinks her mother was right. I honestly don't know what to do with her."

"I've been calling to get Joel on the phone," Clive told her, "I can't really explain why now, but he might be able to help." He wasn't sure how much the abused effected his niece now, she was only two when she was rescued, but he remembered at the time it was horrible. The least little thing would make her think the adults were mad at her and she'd hide like a mouse in the curtains, crying. "I'll call you when I have more. If you don't see it on the news first."

While it wasn't as bad as Bonnie had predicated, the story _had_ been picked up by the news. Reporters were parked outside of the courthouse, some of them from national stations.

"Thanks," Charlie said, "Say hi to Bonnie for me."

With the pair hung up and Charlie stared at TV where by chance the 24-hour news channel she had turned it to, Magda's alleged parents being led down the steps of the Mason City court house in chains. "Abraham and Gail Peterson were arranged today; the Petersons are changed with…."

Charlie took the remote and turned the TV off.

"So, how'd it go?" Sam asks.

"Sam, you were pre-law, tell me, what happens if a defendant is declared incompetent to stand trial?" Charlie asked.

"At the very least they'd get treatment." Sam told her, "Then a lot of things could happen. "After a beat he changed the subject, "Charlie, we and Hannah were talking last night, and uh, we got an idea. Something we think might help Magda."

Looking at the boys, Charlie asked, "Do you, ah…"

"I don't think they're paying attention." Sam replied.

While Cas was contently eating his oatmeal, Dean had started to sing again, " _Divorced, beheaded and died. Divorced, beheaded, survived…"_

"What if we introduced her to some other physics?" Sam suggested, "Between the three of us I can think of, at least six that we're on a first name basis with, some of them who had also been abused or used by people who were supposed to care about them because of their power. Maybe then can get through to her, show her how to control her power."

"You might be on to something there." Charlie agreed. After a moment, she began, rather apprehensively, "I was also thinking, maybe you could talk to her?"

"What?" Sam responded, "Why me?"

"Remember, you were physic once upon a time." Charlie pointed out, "You were pretty freaked out about it to. And you were worried you were evil, just like her."

"She has a point, Sam." Hannah added in. "Maybe you should."

Feeling a pang of compassion and empathy, Sam agreed. "Alright, I'll talk to her."

"Thanks." Charlie smiled at him, "Think you could help me with her meds and bandages after I get from food into her? Might be a good opener."

"Sure." Sam agreed immediately.

"Thanks Sam." Charlie grinned, scooping oatmeal into a bowel for her charge. She walked past the boys, Dean still singing. " _Divorced, beheaded and died. Divorced, beheaded survived. I'm Henry the eight…"_ Charlie turned around with a questioning look.

"It said it was a family show." Hannah offered for an explanation.

"The host is a puppet rat." Sam added.

After breakfast, Charlie handed Magda an array of vitamins, which the teenager swallowed followed by a glass of water. That was about the time Sam walked in, holding a plain mug and an eye dropper with a translucent purple liquid in it. "She ready?"

"Yeah, we just finished with the rest of her vitamins." Charlie told him.

Couching down in front of her, Sam held out the cup, revealing a bright yellow liquid with heavily minty scent. "It's the multivitamin I –thought about last night. Here." As Magda took it, he asked, "Mind if I apply this to your back?"

Magda nodded, bringing the mug to her lips.

"Alright, let's see here." Sam said, as Charlie removed the bandages. This being the first time he had actually seen the wounds he had to fight back a gasp in spite of himself. The deeper lashes had actually needed stitching, her back still ripped and managed. Like Charlie, Sam didn't understand how the girl could stand her hair being next to it. Charlie pulled it back and Sam began to apply the serum. Getting his baring back, he began, "Magda, there's something I wanted to talk to you about. "There are others out there like you—like me. I have powers, too. Or at least I use to. I'd get these visions sometimes and—and I could move things with my mind."

"You can do that?" Magda responded, almost surprised.

"Well, no, not anymore." Sam admitted, "But that didn't make me the devil. "It—it—it just made me who I am." Maybe he should have planned this out more.

"Then you are evil." Magda declared soberly.

"Magda!" Charlie exclaimed in horrified disbelief.

"Mother says I'm evil 'because I hurt people." Magda continued.

Both adults were silent for a moment, before Sam said, "But it was my understanding that you weren't trying to hurt anyone. That you were praying, thinking she could hear your thoughts. Really, who would have thought praying would lead to a death? No one would." He couldn't but feel sorry for her. Even if it was an accident, taking a life was bound to weigh on her. "That wasn't your fault."

Suddenly Magda said, "They weren't the first."

Sam and Charlie looked at each other, shocked, and starting to wonder if maybe they had this wrong.

However, before they inquire about this further, Magda started clutching her head, looking like she was in pain. "Ah!"

Both adults lept into action. "What is it?" Charlie demanded urgently, "What's wrong?"

"How many people are here?" Magda got out, "I'm hearing more voices. One of them sounds like a little girl and she wants to know why she can't be a wolf Berserker too and think Dean is being a stupid head…"

"Reason just dropped Maudie off, "Sam whispered, "She's jump right on board with their Viking phase."

"And there's the colors again…" Magda continued.

"Magda," Charlie began, crouching down in front of her, "Magda, listen to me. This is what we talked about. You can control this."

"No, I—I can't." Magda protested, tears in her eyes.

"Yes, you can." Charlie insisted, "Look, why don't try focusing in on the thoughts of one person. Can you hear mine?"

Magda nodded. "You're not—you're no sure this going to work."

Charlie put her tongue against her teeth, not sure what to say. "Okay, you're right, I'm not. But—there's only one way to find out. Now focus in on my thoughts." _Come on, come on, come on, come on…_

Magda focused in on Charlie, and slowly the other voices in her head began to fade away. "I—I—I'm doing it." The teen broke into a grin, "I'm doing it. I can only hear you now."

"That's—that's great." Charlie beamed back, feeling a bit of pride. She wrapped her arms around the girl, saying, "See, I told you, you could do it."

Later that morning, Sam was going through some files, while Hannah was packaging up an order, and the children were playing at their feet when Charlie came back in, holding a cell phone. "Okay, good news, Bonnie and Clive were able to get ahold of the court physiatrist report, and Gail cleared up that whole' not the first' matter for us. I didn't bring it up because it wasn't important at the time, but, the 'official' reason why the Petersons went off the grid was because Gail got addicted to pills for pain for nerve damage and apparently God told her if she paired down, He'd take the pain away."

"Which also had the pratically effect of keeping them isolated so no one noticed they were keeping their daughter imprisoned and apposed." Sam speculated, wondering exactly how much of the Luddite thing was genuine.

"While I can't prove it, that'd be my guess." Charlie replied, "But apparently the first outburst of Magda's powers was during a fight they were having over a cell phone the kid wanted. She screamed for Gail to pull over, next thing anyone knows, the woman's pulling out into oncoming traffic."

"So, it was personal vendetta instead of this 'she's the devil' nonsense?" Hannah speculated.

"Of course, it's possible she believed her own lies at this point." Charlie reasoned, "But this means, that Magda's not some killing machine. And we know from this morning she can control it. We can save this girl."

"I think I might have something that can help with that." Sam said, handing her the files he had been looking it, "So, back in the 50s, Oliver Pryce was a kid physic. Telepathic like Magda. He performed everywhere…Carnival, Atlantic City, you name it. He was the real deal. Now, the Men of Letters were teaching him how to control his powers when they got…you know."

"Brutally slaughtered?" Hannah put it a little more bluntly.

"Yeah." Sam responded, "The point is, he might be able help us. And he's one of the good guys. He might be happy to see us."

While this conversation was happening, Maudie had grabbed Cas by the seat of his pants, saying, "You got the Monk last time!"

"No, you did!" Dean protested.

"Do I get a say in this?" Cas asked.

Dean and Maudie looked at each other. "Sure." They agreed.

"I want to be Dean's slave." Cas told him, "He grabs less. But next time I get to be the Viking!"

"Deal." Dean agreed, grabbing Cas by the arm and then taking him off.

After a moment staring Hannah spoke up, abashed. "It's not as bad as it looks. Dean thinks slaves are just pets you have fight as your funeral."

"That's a thing Vikings do?" Charlie asked, surprised.

"That's a thing Romans do." Sam told her, "But history tend to get messed up around here. Before you got here Maudie was making ammunitions to fight the invading hordes of Persians."

"Maybe this wasn't sure a good idea." Charlie said, staring at the litany of _Keep Out_ Signs on Oliver's Pryce's house.

Sam took a deep breath. "Well, we're already here." He reasoned before knocking on the door, "Mr. Pryce? Oliver Pryce! Mr. Pryce? This is Sam-

Suddenly the door was opened and a surprisingly well-kept bespectled man appeared. "Winchester. You're Sam Winchester. Man, of Letters."

"Yeah." Sam confirmed, caught a bit off guard, "H-how did you-?"

"Mind reader, remember?" Oliver responded, before looking at Charlie, "And you're Charlie Bradbury hacker, turned hunter, turned possible adopted mother."

"What?!" Charlie balked.

"Well, you're not sure what else to do." Oliver declared, "Though you've also considered boarding school, or sending the kid on the way to her aunt."

Walking into the living room/ dining room aera, Charlie saw a black and white picture on the wall. "That's you?"

" _Was_ me." Oliver corrected him, "I don't do the physic stuff no more. Being around people, it's kind of…Hell. All those brains yapping all the time drives a guy banana."

"Because you can hear everyone's thoughts." Charlie guessed.

Oliver nodded. "Right now, you're still thinking about your girl. Magdalene, or something. The Hippie's wondering if letting your kids watch a show with a segment called 'Stupid Deaths' was a good idea. Also, surprised by how much of history is people finding new ways to enslave each other."

Back at the bunker, Hannah has just put the kids down for a nap and had snuck of two Magda's room, tentively peeking inside. The girl was on her stomach, asleep. It was probably better that way given what she was about to do. Or at least try to do.

Hannah crept into the room, gingerly sitting down at the bedside. Magda was still only wearing dresses and blouses that had, had the back cut out so her injuries to be tended to too. Hannah carefully pulled back a portion of the bandages and put a hand on the raw back. Maybe if she could just focus…

Pouring all her energy into it, a blue light appeared beneath Hannah's hand, healing the aera under her hand and around before she suddenly felt drained of all of energy, jerking her hand back and falling to her knees on the floor.

Awoken by the noise, Magda woke up, her eyes slowly opening, then when she realized what was going on, raised up. "Mrs. Winchester?!" She asked in alarm, leaping to the woman's side, "Are you hurt?"

"Just…just tired all of a sudden." Hannah said, excepting Magda's help up and all to the bed, "I should be fine in a few minutes."

"Are your sure?" Magda asked, "Maybe I should get Mr. Winchester…."

"He and Charlie had to go run an errand." Hannah informed her, "Really, I'll be fine."

"Should I get you some water, or something?" Magda asked, feeling a thing of panic.

"If you could find the kitchen that might actually help." Hannah admitted, "Glasses are in the cabinet on the left."

"I think I can remember." Magda said, thought she honestly wasn't sure.

Somehow, she managed to find it and the glasses. As she got water the sink, she noticed her bandage flapping. Pulling it back she found that where raw flayed skin had been before was soft baby pink. "What?"

Magda found her way back to the bedroom and handed the glass to Hannah. "Ah, thank you." The adult said, taking it and slowly sipping. She thought the strength might be coming back.

Magda just stared at her. She wanted to ask about the miraculous healing of part of her wounds, but was afraid to. She didn't know why, it didn't seem like they would punish her for but, but she couldn't bring herself to ask it.

"Magda," Hannah began, "Is there something you need to say?"

Magda started doing a staring contest with her bare feet.

"Magda," Hannah urged, "It's okay."

"It's just…" Magda began, "When I was getting the water, I saw this." She took the loss bandages and the healed spot on her back. "How—how did this happened?"

"Well, that—that was—" Hannah stammered. They were planning on keeping the whole 'angel' thing under wraps. In fact, they were planning on trying to keep her out of all the divine and magical machinations that went around here if they could. So much for that. Hannah sighed then began. "That was me. I'm an angel of the Lord, Magda. We weren't going to say anything because, well, you casually talk about your internalized idea of being Satan himself, we thought a divine messenger a couple of halls down might be intimidating. The pregnancy's been affecting my abilities." She had to take another gulp of water at that point. "I thought if I focus, I could heal you. To be fair it _did_ work to a certain extent. Before I fell in a semi-conscious heap on the floor."

Magda said nothing, process what she just heard, not sure to believe in. "If you're an angel, where are your wings?" Then it occurred to her to her that she might be incurring divine wrath, panicked. "Sorry! I didn't…"

"It's alright," Hannah cut her off quickly, "'test the spirits to see whether they are from God', right?"

"Huh?" Magda's face contorted in confusion.

"First John Chapter 4, Verse one." Hannah responded, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see if they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.'"

"Oh." Magda responded, "I've never heard that one."

 _Given your background that makes sense._ Hannah thought, but out loud answered the original question. "My wings aren't on this plane, so they only be seen under very specific circumstances."

Feeling more than a little overwhelmed at that point, Magda asked, "I'm sorry, do you mind if I sit down?"

"It's your bed, isn't it?" Hannah responded, scooting over a bit.

Magda sat down, still feeling rather awkward knowing she was next to a messenger of God.

"They were wrong." Hannah declared, looking off, "You're a good girl, Magda."

"Here you go." Charlie said, handing Magda a clear measuring cup of brown liquid to Magda.

Holding her nose, Magda drank the mushroom elixir.

"Alright, let's get you cleaned up." Charlie said, dipping a sponge in a bowl. Magda was physically able to bathe on her own, but they were still being careful of her back, which was particular part Charlie was happening. "Magda, I wanted to talk to you about something you said earlier today. I made a few calls and—"She trailed off a moment before just coming out with it, "I know what happened the first time your power manifested."

"Then you know it's true." Magda responded soberly.

"Actually, it confirmed the opposite." Charlie told her, "Magda, when you said 'pull over' you meant the side of the road, not oncoming traffic, right?"

"Right." Magda confirmed, not sure where this was going, but this prospective dawning on her for the first time.

"So, that's not evil." Charlie continued, "Bratty, yes, but not evil. Not something that warrants—this back." After a beat, she challenged, "Magda, don't you think you've been punished enough. That you've suffered enough?"

Suddenly Magda felt chains around her soul start to loosen. Soon there were tears in her eyes and she was flat out sobbing.

"It's alright." Charlie soothed, carefully taking the girl in her arms, "Everything's going to be alright now."

Two days and several phone calls later, Charlie loaded Magda into the car and headed to Lawrence.

"And these people they're—they're like me?" Magda asked, staring at the window.

"They have different powers for the most part, but yeah, they're physic." Charlie explained driving.

A couple of hours later, they walked up to the house, Charlie rising hand to knock on the door, but before she could it was opened by an older dark-skinned woman. "Oh, you much be Missouri. I'm Charlie Bradbury, this is—"

"Magda." Missouri, cutting her off gently, staring at the teen, "Come on in. Everyone's here."

"Everyone?" Magda repeated, before freezing at what she saw.

Sitting the living room, was an old man, a young woman with thick blonde hair, a little boy similar coloring to the woman, and six teenage girls.

"Magda," Missouri began, "This my granddaughter Patience, Oliver Pryce, Adele Owens, her son Jerod, Carrie Anne Parker, Sissy and Audrina Thomson, Kia Nieves, and Claire Novack."

"And you're all physic?" Magda asked, somewhat in disbelief.

"I read minds and I'm good with communicating with the other side." Oliver announced.

"I can read auras, so does my son." Adele declared.

"I have visions." Patience added.  
"I can set fires with my mind." Carrie-Anne chimed in.

"I'm teleketic, like you." Sissy spoke up.

"I touch things and people and I have visions." Audrina explained.

"I'm technically a dream walker but it was close enough for Patience to call." Kia told her.

"I'm—actually really just her ride." Claire admitted, before getting up, "I'll be over here, if turns out anymore needs me." With that she joined Wally and Joel and the kitchen, who is turn was joined by Charlie.

And so, began that appeared like a cross between an intervention, gam session, and support group.

"At first I thought it was just De Ja Vu." Patience was saying, "Then the vision got more intense, more immersive. I thought I was going insane. "

"But I thought you were her granddaughter." Magda said, "Why wouldn't she just tell you."

"My dad told she was dead and a fraud." Patience recapped, "And he let me believe I was insane and actually had me committed. "Gesturing to Sissy and Audrina she added, "It wasn't until I was recruited to their merry bands of thieves that I knew was physic. And then Aunt Nancy put me through the training from Hell. Spent all days trying to pick a pocket from a coat with bells tied to it, sometimes 24 hours straight with no sleep. And if you got caught shoplifting, no dinner that night. One day I got caught twice, no lunch, or dinner, lost breakfast the next day for contradicting her. "

"I snuck her an apple." Audrina admitted.

"One time when I was six, she told me to use my powers to steal a soda from a vending machine, at one of those state welcome centers." Sissy recalled, "When I said no, she threatened to leave me there. Then she did. I cried for hours before she finally came back."

"I think she hated me for not being able to pull out jewels from other universes or whatever she wanted." Kia added in, "I still got scars from her rings."

"I don't really remember my dad that well." Carrie Anne put in, "My biological one, not the one in the kitchen. I saw him five minutes ago; pretty sure I can remember that far."

Magda snorted a little at that.

"But—sometimes I have these nightmares." Carrie Anne continued, taking on a more sober tone, "There's this—giant man coming at me with a belt, and then everything hurts and I'm really, really scared. Like terrified."

Magda, who was sitting in between Sissy and Carrie Anne, reached out to the later and took her hand.

"With me it was my stepdad." Adele told, "His thing wasn't religion, it was pseudo-science, that, as it turns out, was favored by some rather famous atheists, but was never here nor there. He was like a legit mad scientist. The CAT scans and MRI weren't that bad, just scary, but then he started doing experiments with painful stimuli. He shocked me, pricked me with needles. After Mom died, and he kept coming up empty, it got worst. Electroshock theory, a craniotomy that went, way, way, wrong and I nearly died, tying me up or locking me in closets so I couldn't get away. To this day I can't be in a tight space or a locked room. "

"I thought you said you live off the grid." Magda said, "How do—"

"I designed the outhouse to be abnormally large and I leave the door a bit open." Adele opened.  
"How did you—how did you recover from that?" Magda asked, "From this?"

"Well, accidently killing my abuser helped." Adele told her, "It helps to have a good support system. My Aunt and my Uncle were there for me, later my fiancé," She gestured down, to Jerod who got board was playing in the floor, and was blissfully unaware of the heavy conversation, "This little guy's father, our friends."

"Wally and Lemmie Sue, we've been living with them since the band broke up as it were," Sissy said, "They've been great."

"In our case, keeping in touch helps." Kia added.

"I've been seeing a therapist since I was two." Carrie Anne told them.

"That reminds me," Joel said, hearing what she said from the kitchen, taking a pin and paper and writing down a name and number, "Lizzie Donavan. Use to be a physiatrist before she was hunter. Might be helpful."

"Thanks." Charlie replied.

Later, Magda was staring at the tea cup.

"Just focus, Magda." Sissy told her encouragingly, "Focus."

Suddenly the cup was raised in the air.

"She's doing it!" Carrie Anne beamed, "She's actually doing it!"

"Good job, Magda." Sissy praised, "Now, here's the hard part, sitting it back down, without this getting messy."

"It's an empty cup." Kia pointed out.

"Yes, but when you're new to this it's easy to drop things hard enough they break." Sissy explained, "When I was little, we lost a lot of hotel deposits." With that she cringed.

Focus on the cup, it was little shaky as she went down, but she kept it intact.

"What I really need to know is how to stop things I accidently start." Magda declared.

"It's more than doable, but we could be here a while. "Sissy declared.

Two nights after the meeting, Magda was sitting in the bunker surrounded by three semi conscious toddlers, watching a somewhat flamboyantly dressed highwayman sing about how history shouldn't romanticize him. _"You think life is one big antic, my profession is romantic_. _Hate to be pedantic, but it ain't…._

Glancing over to some blocks that had been left out, Madge focused on them, making four them rise. Soon she had them juggling in the air.

"Maybe I can keep this up until you guys are awake." She grinned.

Charlie and Magda spent the next week at the bunker, as the teen practiced her ability and her back healed. Charlie would be lying if she said she wasn't getting attached to the kid. But eventually it was time to decide what to

"Have you given any thought to where you might want to go from here?" Charlie asked, sitting across the table from Magda, both of them holding cups of coffee, "You could go back to your aunt's."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Magda responded, "I'm supposed to be dead, remember? Besides, I don't blame Elijah for what happened, it's not like he could stop them, but I don't think I can just—go back to that. I think I'm going to reach out to him one day, but not now."

"Okay then," Charlie began seeing her points, "Well, we have other options. There's a boarding school out in Ohio…"

"Actually," Magda cut her off, "I was wondering if maybe—I could stay with you?"

Charlie nearly spat out her coffee. "Magda," She began, "My life—it's unpredictable…."

"I know, but—I'm not exactly defenseless." Magda responded, "Charlie you—you gave me my life back. You made see that my powers—there's not to be fear. I think that, for now, maybe the best place for me is with you."

Charlie was silent, for a minute, thinking it over. For some reason…she wasn't opposed to the idea. "Alright, then."

Just then Dean ran into the room, screaming, followed by Cas who was waving some kind of imaginary book in his hands. "That's right, and don't come back!" The diminutive angel ordered, hitting the ground with his imaginary book.

"Cas, bubby," Charlie began, slightly concerned, "What are you doing?"

"I found a way to defeat the Vikings!" Cas declared proudly.

"How?" Magda asked.

"Hitting them on the head with a Bible." Cas explained.

Unable to help themselves, both young women burst out laughing. Calming down enough to speak, Charlie asked, "Hey guys, how do you feel about having a cusion?"


	86. The Engagement Party

Serena Joy walked into the kitchen, nervously putting an earring in here. Dressed in a blue sweater set and flowered skirt, Corrine was adjusted a plate of stuffed mushrooms. "Honey don't you think you're a bit over dressed?"

Serena Joy was currently dressed in her black off the shoulder gown in strap heels. "Do you remember what Lizzie J wore to her engagement party? That backless sage green thing?" After a beating around, she asked, "Mom, where's the drinks? Not the soda, the hard stuff." Then, seeing it in the corner, walked as fast as she could on her heels, and poured herself a class of green crème de menthe, taking large sip.

"Are you sure you should start drinking so soon?" Corrine questioned.

"If I'm going to get through this, I need something to take the edge off." Serena Joy informed her. _Again, how did I let you talk me into this?_ "Ah, where's Rawls?"

"Oh, he wanted to help so I sent him out for some ice." Corrine told her.

Just then, as if on cue, draped in his yellow polyester sportscoat Rawls back through the door with the ice. "Corrine, where do you want this?"

"Over there." Corrine told him, pointing to a bowel of the table.

As Rawls despioted the ice, he saw how out of sorts his bride to be was. "Hey, you okay, babe?" He asked, walking over to her.

"Yeah," Serena Joy replied, "Just a little nervous." After a beat she said, "No, scratch that, I' _really_ nervous. There's going to be a bunch of people, in a small aera, and there's a couple of dozen things that could go wrong, and what even is even the point of engagement party, and you have almost no family coming and that's not fair to you and did I mention something's going to go wrong-I mean, Amber and Aunt Sarah are in the same room, we're going to be lucky if it doesn't explode with negativity and crazy!" Clutching her hair, she declared, "One of them is going to parent shame someone, I just know it."

"Serena, Serena calm down." Rawls urged, putting his hands around her waist, "Just breathe in, and breathe out. Slowly."

Serena Joy did as instruct, taking slow deep and breathe.

"It's going to be fine." Rawls told her, "These are people who love us and are here to wish us well. And I'm fine with the family that's here. Besides, half my family is guaranteed to create a compostable situation. And besides, you're my family, too, now. Everything well be fine." Then he kissed her.

Serena Joy smiled. "Thanks Rawls."

Just then the doorbell rain. "Eliza and Nick are here!" Stan called out. "So is Sarah!"

"Well, that was beautiful five seconds." Serena Joy declared.

Fortunately, the next people to arrive were Reason and Maudie, Hannah, Sam and the boys, Elsbeth and the girls and Edith all by providence arriving in a great big bundle. "Thanks for coming, guys." Serena Joy told them gratefully, hugging each in turn. When she got to Reason she began, confused, "But I thought—"

"There was—incident with the cooler after you left." Reason explained, "It should only take the day to fix, but in the meantime, I'm all yours."

"What about—" Serena Joy began, wanting to make sure she wasn't imposing.

"Crammed it all in before I left." Reason assured her, "It was close, but I did. Now how are you doing?"

"I'm surprised she still has fingernails." Rawls declared from spot at her side.

Reason took her by the hand. "It's going to fine." She assured her. "We are _all_ here for you."

Serena Joy exhaled. "Thanks guys." Then leading them into the kitchen, she tried to get into swing of things, "Now, food's in the kitchen, just maybe avoid the spring roll , spiced nuts, of Chai scones, cause We made then in case my cusion Amber comes and she's vegan, so there's a limited number of choices for her so—"

Just then she dumped into a woman with mousey brown hair done up, wearing a yellow dress. "Serena, who's this? 'Benedict's' family.?" Her face scrunched up at the name.

"This Rawls' cusion Edith." Serena Joy introduced her, "And his sister-in-law Elsbeth and his nieces Vanessa, Scarlet and Dory. Ladies, this is my aunt. Sarah."

"Nice to meet you." Elsbeth said, extending her hand to the woman.

Sarah just stared as if she wasn't sure what to do with it, instead, saying, "You don't really look at all like Benedict."

"That's because I'm not his sister." Elsbeth explained, "I'm his sister in law, well, ex sister in law."

"Oh." Sarah exchanged curtly, "Called it quits?"

Elsbeth raised an eye brow. "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, it's just that it seems to be that if you—" Sarah began.

Fortunately, that was when Corrine, realizing things were about to take a turn came over. "Sarah, why don't you try these pigs in a blanket?" Then she started actually stopping hour de vors into her sister's mouth, pushing her away from the group, silently wondering what had possessed them to invite her.

"Elsbeth, I am so, so, sorry." Serena Joy began quickly, clearly upset by her aunt's action, "My aunt, she's very—opinionated, and critical, and has no verbal filter—"

"Serena Joy, its okay." Elsbeth assured her calmly, "If people blamed me for my crazy relatives, I wouldn't have any friends left. "

Serena Joy sighed in relief. "Thank you."

Sensing his intended was still tense from the encounter, Rawls began rubbing her shoulders, saying, "You want me get you a drink, babe?"

"Now that you mention it, I wouldn't say no to a grasshopper right now, thank you." Serena Joy berthed.

Five minutes later, Serena Joy was nursing a deep mint green concoction in a martini glass, looking around at the scene. So far apart from the close call with Aunt Sarah and Elsbeth, nothing bad had had happened. Serena Joy's maternal grandparents, Mike and Nell, Corrine's friend Alice , and Pastor Jeff had arrived, putting them at two to go, and everyone was miggling.

Just then, Serena Joy was flanked by either side if her by a blonde and a brunette. "Hey." Reason greeted her.

"You feeling any better?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah." Serena Joy responded, "I'm actually doing a lot better now. But, um, has anyone seen Elsbeth since—you know."

Just then Edith walked over. "She's fine, she's talking with Eliza over there. See?"

Elsbeth was yes, at the table, talking to Eliza Jane, who was holding a blue Hawaiian.

"Yeah, they bonded over the holidays over Mom stuff." Serena Joy commented.

"See?" Reason added, gesturing, "And all the kids are running around playing or still eating, everything's fine."

Indeed, the kids, which at that point consisted, of Dean, Castiel, Maudie, Vanessa, Scarlet, Dory, and Eliza Jane's daughters, Amy and Jennifer, the later of who Dean kept trying to pick up and carrying around, much to the toddler's chirgin.

"Dean, let her down." Sam ordered, "That crying sound she's making means she doesn't like it."

Dean sat her down. "Sorry baby." He said, patting her on the head.

Sam last in spite of himself, right along with Rawls. "That's going to be fun when the baby gets here." Rawls commented, "She's about to get there, right?"

"Month and a half, give or take." Sam confirmed, "We are—probably really not ready. Like, _really_ not ready. I mean, we got a crib, I still have to put up the crib, we have a lot of baby proofing up for when the boys were younger, but we took some it off as they got older, we're still debating between cloth or disposable diapers so we don't have either, and Hannah doesn't if she's going to be able to breast feed or should we do formula—that's probably too much information." Then changing subject, Sam asked, "So, how's the wedding planning going?"

"We've still haven't picked a date yet, but we were thinking either May, or June, maybe July at the latest. "Rawls said, "It really depends on when we can get a venue, and when we can get most of the family together. We were at least hopping to do it where my sister could come down."

"Sister?" Sam repeated. Rawls never talked about his family much, though he got the gist, but this was the first he was hearing of a sister. At least he thought.

"Half-sister from step dad number five." Rawls elaborated, "Consequently one of my favorite step fathers. She's at school right now. I know this may sound weird, but I want thinking about asking her to be my best man. Or best woman I guess."

"That's not that weird." Sam assured him.

After a moment, Rawls added, "You know, I'm going to need at least a couple more groomsmen…"

Just then Serena Joy walked up to them. "Babe, I think we have a couple more guess to receive."

In the doorway were two women, one in her early twenties, with long amber colored hair, dressed in jeans in a t-shirt tank, and an older, short, solidly built woman with faded blonde hair, in green dress tastefully decorated with sliver rhinestones.

"Aunt Rose!" Serena Joy beamed, her moved instantly improved, wrapping her arms around the woman.

"Serena." The woman beamed back, squeezing her tightly, letting her go as she got a look at Rawls, "Oh, this must be him."

"Yeah," Serena Joy confirmed, "Aunt Rose, this Rawls, Rawls, this is my dad's cusion, Rose."

"Nice to finally meet you." Rawls smiled at her, taking her hand, "I've heard good things."

"Stan and Corrine have said wonderful things about you." Rose said, pulling pack, "We met your sister on the way, in, she's lovely."

"My sister?" Rawls repeated, confused.

Rose began to look around, confused. "I could've sworn she was right behind us."

Just then someone from behind them cleared their throat. The two women stepped back, revealing a girl about the same age as Reason with thick sandy blonde, almost light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a sleeveless red dress that feel to her knees.

Rawls just stood there for a minute, staring at her shock.

"Hey, Benny." Persephone Walters said with a smile.

"Steph." He beamed embracing her, then pulling back began, "How—"

"Two classes canceled due to bad weather, and there might be the pledge master two buildings down from me in the car and he might have a lead foot." Persephone explained, "Seriously, he drives crazier than Edith."

"I heard that!" Edith called from the kitchen.

In the kitchen, the ladies had all been conversing. "Girls, can you come here a second?" Elsbeth called out.

The girls ran up to her, Scarlet having Dory by the arm.

"Come on," Elsbeth told them, "There's someone I want you to meet." With that she walked them over to Persephone, who has just entered the kitchen with her brother and future sister in law.

"Who's that?" Hannah whispered over to Reason.

"I don't know." Reason whispered back.

"She's his sister." Edith whispered, "He's really the only one she'd kept in contact with since she went off to school."

"Girls," Elsbeth began, "This is your Aunt Stephie."

Persephone's eyes got a little misty. "Hi," She said, whipping her eyes and leaning down, "You were so tiny the last time I saw you. What did I tell you about not growing?"

"Huh?" Venessa responded.

"Never mine." Persephone replied, "You were too young to remember. "Looking to the middle sister, she said, "And you, Scarlet, you were just a baby. "After a beat she asked, "Guys, you think I can get a hug?"

Both girls let themselves be scooped up. "Ah! That's it!" Then she saw Dory. "And who's this?"

Dory head behind Elsbeth's legs as Rawls whispered over Persephone. "Oh."

"She's a little shy." Elsbeth explained.

"That's okay." Persephone assured the toddler, "I was shy when I was kid too. "

After that, things were going smoothly. Everyone was having a good time; everyone was happy for the couple. Serena Joy even started to enjoy herself.

At least until Maudie started eying the cupcakes.

Serena Joy had made a two dozen of them, German chocolate topped with creamy white icing that had been frosted to look like a rose. Reason had been chatting with Amber, who seemed a bit of a strong personality but not as bad as described at that point, by the cupcake display, when Maudie came over. "Mommy, can I have a cup cake?"

In a somewhat condescending tone, Amber pipped off, "You know, you really shouldn't eat those, Maudie. Sugar is _really_ bad for you."

Being admonished by an adult, and not even sure what for, Maudie looked down, embarrassed.

Reason was so stunned for a moment that she stood there, shocked. Quickly getting her barrings back, she said, grabbing a cup cake, "But in moderation, it's perfectly fine." Leaning over to give it to her, she said, "Here you go."

Maudie's face lit up as she took it. "Thank you." Then she went off, beginning to eat the treat.

When she was sure her daughter was out of ear shot, Reason turned to face Amber. "What was that?" It wasn't that she automatically rejected the input of others, but straight up hijacking was another matter.

"You're serious going let your child eat poison?" Amber demanded, ignoring Reason's question and suddenly talking to her like she was an idiot.

Reason took a deep breath. _Lord, please give me strength and patience. A ton of patience. Like, Job-level patience here ._ Then she began diplomatically, "Look I understand that you have a certain diet and lifestyle that includes no sugar, put I am her parent, and I don't give her a ton of sweets but think once and a while on special occasions, like a party."

Amber mouth fell open and her noise scrunched up. Wanting out of the conversation, Reason, seeing Serena Joy called out, "Hey, Serena!" Then she walked off, leaving Amber to stand in shock.

When Serena Joy could see her friend was out of sort. "Oh my gosh, what happened?"

"Nothing." Reason insisted, smiling.

Unfortunately, that was Amber decided she needed to have the last word, calling, "I should call CPS on you!"

"Though you cusion might be having a conception because I let my kid eat a cupcake." Reason grimaced, "She wouldn't really-"

"No, her parents made it clear the next time she was arrested for filing a false report they were going to let her rot in jail and she doesn't have any friends to bail her out because—well, things like what just happened." Serena Joy answered. Then a after a moment of thought, she declared, "Though just in case, let me get Aunt Rose."

After that, there was an incident every five minutes or less.

The next one started as Aunt Sarah cornered Sam and Hannah and was going on and on about her disapproval of Rawls.

"Serena's never been very bright, if I'm being completely honest, but I don't know what she was thinking with this one." She was ranting, "And why did Corrine and Stan let her? I always said they were too permissive with those girls…."

"Well, she's twenty-two, uh, I don't think they can legally stop her." Sam spoke up awkwardly, wanting to be anywhere but here. By chance, that was when a few of the children had decided to play chase, running around the table and causing the plates and glasses to safe. "Guys, Guys," Sam called out, getting their attention, "Chase is more of an outside game, okay? Or at least a game for a larger space, find something else to play."

"Okay." The boys agreed, walking off.

Sarah back and forth at the boys and Hannah rather noticeable tummy, incredulous. "How many children do you have?"

"Two and one on the way." Hannah answered, resting arm on her stomach, because it was getting to the point where that was the only place she could comfortably rest her upper ligaments.

Suddenly Aunt Sarah's face contorted into a look of disgust. "You must be Mormon."

"Actually, we don't have a reglious affliction…" Hannah began, caught off balance by the sudden derogatory and somewhat odd comment.

"Well, then it's just irresponsible having so many children…" Sarah began another rant.

Trying to change the subject, since he didn't think they were getting out of there anytime soon, Sam said, "Serena Joy, um says you have two daughters. I actually think I ran into one of them earlier. I tried to talk to you them, but they seemed a little shy."

That was actually an understatement. All he did was say hi as he got an egg roll, and they went stiff like frightened rabbits and began backing away slowly before running off.

"I've thought them not to talk to strangers." Aunt Sarah burst it off in snitty tone, "Lynette is eighteen and Misty just turned sixteen."

"They both must be really excited." Sam replied.

"I suppose." Aunt Sarah responded, "Lynette keeps sending off all these applications to these out of city and even out of state schools, I don't know what she thinks is going to happen? Really, what's wrong with the collages in Topeka? You really don't even need to travel more than a few miles from home anyway. I don't know where I went wrong." For once it was her who changed the subject, "So, what about you?"

"Oh, Dean and Cas?" Sam responded, "We're a _long_ way away from collage. They just start preschool in the fall, the way their birthday falls." He decided to leave out that they were planning on homeschooling, as he had no doubt this horrible woman would have a field day with it.

However, he had unknowingly given her something else to play with anyway. "Cas?" She repeated, a look of distaste on her face, "That's sort of…girlish, don't you think?"

"Well, it's short for Castiel…." Hannah began.

The woman pratically snorted. "That's an uncomfortable name, isn't it?"

"It's not…." Hannah began, when she saw the boy himself coming over, well within ear shot already.

Indifferent to his presence. Sarah continued, in a tone used to entitlement and running the mouth unchecked, "I could never give my child such an odd sounding name."

 _And yet you'd give your child a name better suited for horses and strippers._ Sam thought, crouching down to see what his son needed. "What is it, bud?"

"I need to go potty." Cas told him, apparently unaffected by the insult.

"Come on," Sam, taking Cas by the hand and grabbing Hannah's hand, dragging her away from the quagmire.

Upon Castiel finishing his business, the couple exited the bathroom, Serena Joy and Rawls waiting for them. "Norma told us what happened." Rawls said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, we all talked about it, it's fine." Sam assured them.

Covering Cas' ears, Hannah added, "Miraculously he didn't hear enough to realize she was talking about him."

"Guys, on behalf of my entire family, I appolize." Serena Joy began, mortified, "What she did was inexcusable, we never should have invited her, we only _did_ invite is because we didn't think she would come and we didn't want to start a thing, but that's really no excuse…."

"Serena," Hannah cut her off, "It's not your fault. The only person to blame here is that -horrible woman. Don't let it ruin your night."

Serena Joy wrapped Hannah into a hug. "By the way, I think Castiel is a great, great, name."

That would have been the end of it, were it not for the minute Sam and Hannah came back out, still talking Rawls and Serena Joy, Aunt Sarah tracked them down. "Serena, can I talk with you," She was saying, where her eyes landed on Castiel, "There's the boy with no proper…"

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Serena Joy cut her off, giving Sam and Hannah time to flee with Cas.

"What was that lady—" Cas began.

"Don't worry about the lady, little one." Hannah told him, "She's not right in the head." She had to be a little mal adjusted to talk to child like that. Saying it to them was one thing. Saying it in front of or two Cas was another.

After that couple just sat on the couch, taking a minute to recover, Cas going back to play with brothers and the others.

"The nerve of her!" Hannah was saying, "Saying that right in front of him! Right _to_ him! I have half a mine to smite her. If I still could." She hated her powers being on the fritz like that this. It made her feel so helpless.

"I know, I know," Sam hushed in a soothing tone, rubbing her arm, "In fact, if you see me going for my boot, stop me." He hadn't brought in any guns because of the number of children around, but had taken in a couple of knives, in case of emgerncy.

"Do you…do you think we made a mistake not changing his name?" Hannah asked.

"No." Sam assured her quickly, shaking his head, "Look people name their kids a lot of crazy things now a days. Castiel is definitely better than Apple, I can tell you that."

Hannah tilted her head up, "Someone actually—"

"Yeah." Sam replied, "And now it's like a thing. Who knows, maybe next thing you know, every other boy will name Castiel."

Hannah smiled. "Can you imagine…."

"And in Victorian times the name was even worse. Raspberry, Never, Farthing, and I think that was girl's a name."

Hannah giggled a little.

Getting up, they walked back into the kitchen, holding hands, when Pastor Jeff walked up to them. "Are you alright?" The pastor asked, "I hadn't seen you in a while."

"Yeah," Sam assured him.

"We just needed a little time to recover." Hannah explained, "We just a had a few encounters with Serena Joy's aunt. She's, um…."

" What Jerry Bridges would call a critical spirit." Jeff finished for her.

"I was going to say an acquired taste, but, yes, I believe what you said works much better." Hannah replied.

"You should add selfishly inconsiderate on top of that." Priscilla Jean called out.

Just then, Sarah found them for a third time. "You're a preacher or something, right?" She began, "Maybe you should talk to this one about naming their next child, "That was when she started touching Hannah's belly, "Something more sensible."

"Uh, please stop that." Hannah requested. While she was okay with a moderate amount of touching from relatives and close friends, she did not like strangers touching her belly, and in fact, had only had to deal with it once throughout the entire pregnancy.

However, she didn't listen, continuing to touch Hannah's belly, saying, "How do you think he's going to handle it when he gets older? He is going to _hate_ you for naming him that. Seriously, you're just a bad mother."

Hannah gasped at that and Sam took a step forward, then Jeff grabbed him by the wrist. "Sam, don't do anything rash." Then he addressed the woman in question, "Sarah, that's enough."

"Please, stop touching my stomach." Hannah pleaded, pushing the hand away.

"It's okay, I'm a mother." Sarah insisted, starting the petting again, this time getting rough, scaring Hannah.

"Ma'am, my wife asked you to stop." Sam said in his you-really-don't-want to mess with me tone, before grabbing Hannah and walking away.

Lacking all self-awareness and not use to being so openly challenged, Sarah walked after them, starting to touch Hannah's belly again, saying in nasty tone, "Why on earth would you give that poor boy such an unusual name?"

Doing a quick check to make sure the woman's own daughter weren't around, they were teens, but he still wanted to show them that curtesy, Sam said, not missing a beat, "Well, if you give a kid a common name, it will be a common kid."

The backhanded declaration shocked the woman enough that she dropped her hand, looking like a pufferfish that had somehow wound up on land, giving the couple enough time to escape. It also Pastor Jeff time to catch up. "Sarah, I think it's time we had a talk…." He wasn't sure how much good it would do, Corrine confined him once that her sister and her family had gone through five churches, usually leaving when an elder or pastor would try to have an honest conversation with Sarah about her antics, but it would at least keep her occupied for a while. Besides, maybe they'd get a miracle.

The next thing that happened wasn't that bad, actually. It started when a boy no one recognized, sinewy build with short clipped light brown hair, poked his head in. Seeing Persephone talking with Rawls and Serena Joy, he hissed, whispering. "Steph! Steph, over here!"

Persephone turned around at his voice. "I, ah, got to go for a minute, guys, my ride needs something."

They watched her go over and talk to the boy. "I'm not sure about her ride." Rawls said, staring at him with suspicion, "I don't know her ride."

"I'm sure he's a perfectly nice boy." Serena Joy assured him.

"She said he was pledge master." Rawls pointed, "Pledge masters aren't nice. Watch any sorority film, or a horror movie."

Just then Persephone walked back. "Hey, guys, is it okay for Preston to come in a use the bathroom?"

"Sure." Serena Joy assured her, giving her a smile, "In fact, let him come in. Join the party."

Persephone turned and nodded to the Preston, who carefully hurried towards the bathroom.

Just then, there was the clanging of glass. "I'd like to make a toast." Eliza Jane called out. As the room went silence, she began. "When Serena Joy told us, she had a new boyfriend, we were all surprised. She's really good at keeping a secret. Like, _really_ good. But I also knew she was in love. Because she looks at him the same way I look my husband." After a beat she said, "Rawls?"

Rawls' eyes glanced towards her.

"You're a great guy, and I like you, but if you hurt my sister, I will kill you, is that understood?" Eliza Jane asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Rawls confirmed.

"But it's not going to come to that." Eliza Jane said confidently, "Because I know you two are going to have many, many years together, and I wish you both the best of luck. "Raising her glass, she said, "To –"

Just then she was cut off by the sound of a toilet flushing.

Eliza Jane smirked, the broke into laugher. Soon the whole room was laughing.

But the last one, the very last incident, took the cake, and nearly sent everything careening off the cliff.

It all started when Persephone and her friend, Preston, who had been invited to stay along with the rest of the group, were having a conversation with Lynette and Misty. Or at least they were trying to do.

"And that's how I picked pharmacology." Persephone finished.

"I—I didn't know that was a thing." Misty responded, "I just thought pharmacist were like, check out people or something."

Both of the other young women thought this was a really odd assumption, but they brush it off, Persephone saying, "So Lynette, I heard you're graduating this year. What's next? Collage, trade school, appetence, community college?"

"I…" Lynette began, looking like a dear in the headlights, "I…." Then suddenly the girl broke down into tears.

"I'm sorry." Persephone said, panicking, not sure what she had said wrong, "I didn't mean to upset you."

"What did you do?!" Sarah screeched, marching over and tearing her daughter away, wrapping her in her arms, "It's alright, baby, it's alright." Then glaring over at Persephone, "I should've known the entire family was trash!"

She just did the one thing that could set Rawls off. "Hey!" He began, marching towards, "You can't talk to my sister."

That was also the time when Amber commented, just loud enough for Sarah to hear, "Looks like someone's not consistent enough."

"Oh, great, she's one of those, too." Reason commented, running over to Maudie and picking her up, knowing that between Sarah and Amber, whatever happened next, it wasn't going to be good and she didn't want her daughter to see it.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?!" Sarah demanded whirling on her.

"Tantrums are caused by parents not being consistent in their discipline." Amber declared matter of factly.

"She's seventeen not two." Sam whispered, taking his wife by the hand and looking for their children as well.

Just then Serena Joy got between the four of them. "Stop it! All of you!"

That when Sarah shouted out, "At least I never sent anyone to looney bin!"

Serena Joy froze, as if she a had been slap, tears forming at her eyes. She had to go there? Really? Suddenly she ran off, sprinting out.

"Serena!" Rawls called out, running after her.

Suddenly Sarah found herself surrounded by her sister and parents, all looking rather angry. "Sarah, I think it's time we had a little talk." Corrine said, her arms folded.

Stan and Rose cornered Amber. "I think we do, too." Rose said.

Her shoes in her hands Serena Joy walked down the street, sobbing. Of the things she thought could go wrong, Aunt Sarah had to throw _that_ out there? And like that? It was so embarrassing. And like she needed reminded, that her life went off the rails for a while and how long it took her recover? Suddenly it was like she was that kid again pulled over on the side of the road."

Suddenly a voice broke through her ruminations. "Serena! Serena Joy!"

She turned around, and saw Rawls standing there.

"Things went sorta pear-shaped in there." He began, "I' sorry, I shouldn't have reacted that way."

"Trust me, you were the least of the problems." Serena Joy got out before breaking into more sobs, "Rawls, remember what I told you that night on the bridge in that park? That I was damaged goods and you should run. "

"Uh-huh." Rawls responded, putting his arms around her, "And remember what I told you?"

"That no matter how crap I thought my stats were yours were far worst." Serena Joy told him, actually laughing, "And then you started singing. Which by the way, 'Crazy Girl' is probably not the best thing to sing to someone who's been in metal health facility."

Rawls smiled, "I know, you said that then, too." Rocking her back and forth, he started singing, " _Crazy girl, don't you know that I love you? I wouldn't dream of going nowhere. Silly woman, come here let me hold you. Have I told you lately, I love you like crazy, girl?_ "

"You're still sort of off key." Serena Joy quipped and they both started laughing.

They sat in the sidewalk for a while before walking back to the house, where her friends were all waiting on the front stoop. "You okay?" Reason asked.

"Yeah," Serena Joy answered, "I took a minute calmed down. But I feel I owe you guys an explanation. "

"No, you don't." Sam told her, "Whatever that was about, they were completely out of line."

"It's your party, run off and cry if you want to." Elsbeth quipped.

"Rather you want to talk about it now or not, it's your business." Reason added.

" Maybe in a little bit." Serena Joy said.

"If you're not, then I think you're really going to like what's going on inside." Hannah smirked.

They got inside where standing in the door was Amber, Rose holding her by the ear like a naughty child. "Now, what do you have to say to your cusion?"

"I'm sorry for ruining your engagement party, Serena Joy." Amber said, sounding almost scared, "I'm a domineering, obsessive, vapid yuppie who thinks that reading one book or article makes me an expert on a subject with no verbal filter. Reason, I'm sorry for trying to parent your child when there was clearly no need."

Serena Joy couldn't help but grin. "Apology accepted."

Walking past her, Serena Joy found in the kitchen, Sarah looking rather abashed surrounding by a rather stern looking Grandpa Mike and Grandma Nell, and Corrine. "I'm sorry, too, Serena. I'm a controlling, selfishly inconsiderate, critically spirited shrew who needs to learn when to keep her mouth shut."

By the point, Serena Joy was fighting off full blown schadenfreude. "You are forgiven." Then she went over to the drink aera.

As she poured herself a glass of green crème de menthe, Rawls came over, pour himself a drink. "Here's to us." She said, and they clinked their glasses.


	87. Valentine Plots

Sam pulled up to the community college and Reason got out. Leaning down he said, "Good luck tonight."

"Thanks." Sam responded. He thought he might need it.

Reason leaned over a bit. "Love you, Maudie."

"Love, Mommy." Maudie replied.

Reason blew her a little kiss before walking off.

Reason settled in next to usual spot for General Mechanics next to Vinny, who seemed out of sorts. "Reason, you're a girl, right?"

"Last time I checked." Reason responded, unsure of where this was going.

"Okay, I'm been trying to figure out what to get for my girlfriend for Valentine's and I have no clue what to actually get her." Vinny explained.

"You do realize it's actually Valentine's day?" Reason pointed out.

"So, you see my problem." Vinny responded.

"Well, what does she like?" Reason asked, trying to help.

"That's the thing." Vinny told her, "She's allergic to flowers, andchocolate, I can't really afford jewelry."

"What about stuffed animals?" Reason suggested.

"Stuffed animals?" Vinny repeated.

"You know, pink and reds one with hearts sewed in their hands." Reason elaborated.

Vinny thought on this for a minute. "You know, she might actually like that. She had like a _lot_ of stuffed animals at her place."

Meanwhile, Charlie was parked nearby the bunker, surrying it from a spot hidden by a tree.

"I thought Sam was going to call us when it was time." Magda said, looking up from her book in the passenger seat.

"He is, but we also, need to keep a close eye so we know when to make our move." Charlie explained, still keeping her eyes on the bunker.

Meanwhile, Elsbeth was working on a client's hair in the kitchen.

"I told him we didn't need to do anything big." The woman was saying as Elsbeth carefully cut a lock of hair off, "But he insisted we at least go out for dinner. I know I give him a hard time sometimes, but I know I'm lucky."

"He sounds like a great guy." Elsbeth responded, focusing on her work.

"What about you?" The woman asked, "Any big plans with your guy?"

"I don't actually have a guy." Elsbeth admitted, "I brought some chocolates for my girls, I'm gonna give it to them after I pick them up, that's really the extent of my plans."

Later that morning, Sam loaded serval small boxes in the car. "Okay guys," Sam began, "Time to get in."

As the pregnancy marched on, it became more and more difficult for her to do her job. She hadn't done door to door sales anymore since late November and all the money coming in from her job was orders from her established clients. Sam was uneasy about her even making a simple drop off or pick up on her own in her condition so he started to go with her. Which usually meant all the kids had to go as well.

Of course, today it served a dual purpose.

Charlie watched the Impala got down the road until it faded into the distance. "That's our cue."

Charlie parked her car in the garage, her and Magda getting out, creeping into the bunker. They made their way through the halls until they came to the dungeon. Charlie undid the baby gate, stepping inside, followed by Magda who redid it, then they head down stairs, turning on the light. "Now, we wait." Charlie declared.

Around this time, Tabbris was driving his car towards Lebanon, when it started to slow. He looked and realized the gas monitor was very close to empty. "How…" He began. _Seriously, I only take this out, what, once a month? How is it already empty? And how do I not have the hang of how a car works after two years without wings?_

He managed to get to a gas station, pulling in next to the put and getting out. He was putting the pump in when he saw the heart in the window that read: DID _YOU_ WHAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE?

 _Oh, it's THAT holiday again._ Tabbris thought. The one he always forgot about and hadn't really thought about in years….

 _Nine-Year-Old Jane was suppose to be getting ready for bed, and, to be fair, she was in her sleep shirt and pratically prepared for bed, but was currently twirling around her bedroom, the family Walkman in her ears, singing along to relatively new Barenaked Ladies song. "Hold it down and watch the hoodwink, as you I make you stop think. You'll think you're looking at Aquaman. I summon fish to the dish, Although I like Chalet Swiss…."_

 _She didn't realize anyone was in the room with her until a voice behind her say, "Is this suppose to mean something?"_

 _Jane turned around to see a man in his thirties with long red line on the side of his forehead, dressed in a blue suit. He was holding a bundle of pale blue roses._

" _Dad!" Jane exclaimed throwing herself at him, hugging him, "I thought…" Her father had just visited that morning, so she wasn't expecting him so soon. In fact, she usually saw him only a few times a year._

" _I haven't been to Heaven yet." Tabbris told her, "There was something I needed to rectify first." He then handed her the roses saying, "Happy late Valentine's Day, Jane."_

 _During the visit, it was mentioned that Valentine's Day was the day before. Abigail had picked up a few boxes of those candy conversation hearts for the girl, and Tabbris knew he had to make up for it._

" _I didn't even—"Jane began._

" _Uncle PJ told me what it was a year ago." Tabbris explained, "I was a day late that time too."_

" _Thank you so much." Jane beamed, overjoyed with the gift, "I gotta go put these in some water. Want to come?"_

 _So much for checking in today._ Tabbris thought as he put the gas cap in. If they had something planned, he didn't want to barge in. Well, he could just drive around for the day. It's not like Heaven had figured out an exact schedule yet. If they asked, he could always make an excuse.

Meanwhile, at an andanoned house in New Orleans, the wood rotting, the room only lit by sunlight and the emergency lantern she had got at a gas station, Abigail was staring at herself in a grimy full-length mirror. Her hair was freshly died, giving it some of the vitality it had, had in her youth back, or at least the look of the vitality and it was done up in a lose chiffon, her face slathered in makeup, stragicly applied to make her look at first glance at least a few years younger than she actually was, dressed in a flowing white dress and red high heels. "Seeing anything that girls me a location?" She asked, messing with her hair.

A chain coiled around her wait tethering her to radiator, Melanie was crouched down looking at a swath of canvas covered with little gray pebbles, trying to interrupt the symbols in them. "Something about…vipers?"

Abigail turned around with a look of _seriously?_ "Vipers?" She repeated.

"Maybe wherever he's going to be had the word viper in it, or he has a pet viper…." Melanie speculated.

"You're not helping here, Melanie." Abigail told her.

"Here's an idea," The physic began, "How about give up, let me go, I'll hitch hike back to Saginaw and try to forget the worst month and a half of my life, and leave these poor people alone."

"Melanie!" Abigail snapped, tensely, "Keep looking, and keep your trap shut until you find something."

Afraid of what her increasingly erratic captor might do if disobeyed, Melanie carefully examined the pebbles. "Okay, I'm seeing something about maybe…six o'clock."

"Sic o'clock?" Abigail repeated, "Like the time?"

"Yeah, I think so." Melanie confirmed her voice shaking a little.

Grabbing her knife and set a key, Abigail went to Melanie and unchanged her, quickly grabbing her by the arm. "Come one," She commanded, walking her out of the room, "We only have hours to figure out where this guy is going to be."

Later that afternoon, Sam and Hannah were in the process of doing a laundry, Sam dividing out the clothes while Hannah actually put them in the washer and set it all up.  
"I think we need to fold some of these." Hannah declared, looking at the pile of clean colors that was amassing.

"Yeah, um, before we do that, I need to go hit the head." Sam told her.

"Oh, sure," Hannah agreed, "I'll go check on the kids."

The pair walked out of the room and went their separate ways and when Sam slipped the opposite direction of the nearest bathroom, towards the dungeon.

Unlatching the baby gate, Sam hurried down the stairs as stealthily he could.

"Hey, Sam." Charlie greeted him, from the spot where she and Magda had been playing a game to past the time.

"Hey," Sam responded, "Magda, are you…." He hadn't been sure about them hiding in the dungeon given Magda's recent past.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Magda assured him, "You gave us alternatives if we needed, remember?"

"Right," Sam responded, leaning under the ledge where several tortures implements here hung, Sam pulled out a while table cloth, two silver-colored candle sticks, and two white tapered candles, and a small cooler. "Again, thanks for doing this."

The dungeon hadn't really been used since the Dark Charlie incidents, so it was an almost perfect place to hide things.

Upstairs, Hannah and the kids were in one of the storage, where Hannah was finding bending down suddenly impossible. "Boys, Maudie, can one of you get the flowers for Mommy?"

Dean and Cas ran to the hiding place, pulling out a large bouquet of red, white, pink, and lavender colored roses, Maudie scooping up some that fell.

"Thanks little ones." Hannah breathed.

"Can we show Daddy now?" Cas asked.

"Not yet, baby." Hannah told him, "But now we can put them in the bedroom with the cake."

Sam dropped his bundle off in the kitchen, setting a bottle of bottle of sparking grape juice in the refrigerator next to the ginger ale, and ran towards the bathroom. He really _did_ have to pee at that point,

When Sam returned, Hannah had already started folding the laundry. "Are you okay?" She asked, "You gone for a while?"

"Yeah, things just took a little—longer than expected." Sam covered.

"Castor oil helps that." Hannah told him sincerely.

After a half hour of folding they had finished. "You know what, why don't you set down for a while, get off your feet?" Sam suggested, taking basket.

"Ah, thank you." Hannah breathed, not auguring as her feet and back were protesting standing at that point. "I'll probably be in the stacks if you need me."

Sam quickly put the clothes up and while he had an excuse headed for the kitchen where to his surprise, he found an already covered table, with two candles on it, and Charlie and Magda standing at the table.

"Don't worry no one saw us." Charlie assured him, "Good to actually see you by the way."

"You, too." Sam replied, "Thanks for doing this. Both of you, really, thanks."

"No problem." Charlie told him, "But, uh, what's with all the secrecy, anyway?"

"We decided that we weren't really going to do anything this year because of everything going on right now." Sam explained, "But, I, um guess I wanted to surprise her. I mean, this is our second Valentine's day, right? Our first one technically together. So, I thought—hey, I could pull this off. Somehow."

"Didn't know you were such a romantic." Charlie teased.

In the stacks, Hannah did actually sat down for a minute, as her feet and back really were killing her, and when she was feeling better, stood up. "Okay, little ones," She began, "Let's get to work."

All for of them each took a rose and began plucking off petals, leaving a thick trail down the hall. They got into the bedroom and Hannah turned to put the rest on the bed, where Hannah noticed that someone had put the purple semi-formal maternity dress she wore to Serena Joy and Rawls' engagement party out on the bed. "Huh."

Meanwhile, Rawls plans for valentine's day were about to hit a snag.

The plan was to have a night in at Serena Joy's place, save some money for the wedding, but Edith had got a gig and her was dropping her off before he headed out. Then he got a look at the place.

"Thanks, Rawls." Edith began, getting out of the front passenger side with her guitar, when Rawls grabbed her arm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rawls began, "You can't go in there. That place is skivvy with capital S."

"I'm not just skipping out." Edith argued, reaching away, "My reputation will be ruined."

"What reputation?!" Rawls responded.

All that did was earn him a harsh glare from Edith.

"Okay, okay, compromise." Rawls suggested, "I come with you."

"What about Serena?" Edith challenged.

Rawls thought a minute, then got an idea. "Give me a second, okay?" Then he hit Serena Joy's speeddail. "Hey, babe, I know we said we were just going to stay in, but how would you feel about a change in plans…."

Back at Rawls apartment, Elsbeth had just given all three girls small boxes of chocolate. "You can start eating them after dinner. I got some chicken legs on."

Just then her cell phone and she went to pick it up. Not recognizing the number, she answered it anyway. "Elsbeth Rawls speaking."

"Yeah, I understand if you can't, but, um, can I get an emergency appointment?" A tentive voice on the other end of the line asked.

Elsbeth's eyes glanced around the room. It wasn't the best time, but she really needed to the work. She was still doing freelance jobs out of the kitchen, and besides, it's not like she wouldn't still be working this time in the shop. "Can I get a time and a name?"

"I can be over there in ten minutes." The woman's voice said, "Starlah Nelson."

Elsbeth nearly broke the pen, having a knee jerk reaction to the name. "See you then, thank you." They then hung and Elsbeth looked at the girls. "Okay girls, slight change in plans…."

There were only so many times you could drive around a small town before you had seen everything at least twice.

Tabbris had literally been driving for hours, even taking all the local back roads. He pulled over, taking a moment to think. Eventually he decided to just head towards Lebanon, but simply not make his presence known.

The road was almost completely desperate, except for the odd car passing him every now, leaving only himself and the radio. Everything was going find until a slow melody came on the radio. _"(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you're never coming 'round. (Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears…."_

Tabbris jumped in his seat. Why did it have to be that song? Of all the songs in existence why did it have to be that one?

" _(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little terrified and then I see the look in your eyes…"_

" _So now what?" Tabbris, visibly younger, asked, his around a nine-year-old Abigail's waist, letting himself be spun around bedroom of her dorm somewhat awkwardly by the young woman._

" _(Turn around bright eyes!) Every now and then I fall apart. (Turn around bright eyes!) Every now and then I fall apart…."_

" _Now, we just keep—doing this." Abigail told him, her head on his chest. Suddenly she felt a sharp crushing pain in her foot. "Though without stepping on my foot." A foot second later there was a long bang, "Or knocking us against the foot of the bed."_

" _I'm sorry." Tabbris apologized, "This is all new to me."_

" _(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit restless and I dream of something wild…."_

" _Which is why I'm leading." Abigail reminded him, "Thought I'm wondering if that's not part of the issue, you're bigger than be. Maybe that's why guys normally lead, height difference."_

" _Do you think it would help if we switched?" Tabbris asked._

" _We can try." Abigail agreed, "I think you're getting the hang of it, anyway."_

" _(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit helpless and I'm lying like a child in your arms…."_

 _The couple rearranged themselves, Abigail's head now resting on Tabbris' chest. "Ah," She began, "Yeah, this is definitely better."_

" _(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit angry and I've known I've got to this out and cry…."_

 _There was a moment of silence, except for the long, then Abigail said softly, "Don't leave me."_

" _I'm not going anywhere." Tabbris responses, confused for a moment._

" _Don't ever leave me." Abigail intreated._

" _(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit terrified, but then I see the look and your eyes…."_

 _Tabbris held her tighter. "I won't, Gail. I promise."_

" _(Turn around, bright eyes!) Every now and then I fall apart…."_

" _(Turn around, bright eyes!) Every now and then I fall apart…."_

Tabbris eyes were tearing up, so he whipped his face. He quickly turned off the radio and just sat there for a moment his chest heaving. This was ridiculous. He was an angel of the Lord for crying out loud! He shouldn't be getting so worked up over a silly sad love song! Even if was _their_ song. "I need a frickin' drink." He finally declared before driving off.

Meanwhile, Rawls and Serena Joy were sitting in the corner of a smoky, bar, the walls covered with skeevy wood paneling, while Edith was on small platform in the other direction, playing guitar and singing her heart out. _"It's hard to tell him no when I want him so bad. But I got to be true to my heart, this time…."_

"Sounds like Edith's getting really good." Serena Joy complimented.

"Yeah, she's really is." Rawls responded, somewhat abashed by the turn the night had taken, "Serena, I'm sorry I messed up the night."

"Rawls for the thousandth time it's okay." Serena Joy, "You're protective of your family. It's one of the things I love about you."

Rawls wasn't sure how to respond to that, and froze. For several seconds. Eventually Serena Joy waved her hand in front of his face. "Hello. Earth to Rawls."

"Sorry, just wasn't inspecting that." Rawls responded, "While we're on it I love you can just roll with it." Then he leaned in and kissed her. After they came back up for air, Rawls had an idea. "You know, I think I dance and make sure no one messed with Edith at the same time." He said as he got up, extending his arm to Serena Joy.

Serena Joy smirked, taking his hand. "I like your thinking, Mister."

And so, they descended onto the floor as Edith began another song. _"She came in looking good and looking around. She's checking out every man in the room right now. Now don't go telling her about right or wrong. She's been alone way too long…"_

The Viper Pit. There was a high-end bar at the other end of town called the Viper Pit. So high end in fact, there was a bouncer in a three-piece suit at the front to keep the "riff-raft" out Abigail guessed. She had already seen him turn away two men away in the time she had been watching.

Abigail looked at her watch. It was ten 'till six. If he she going to make her move, she was going to need to do it now. She sauntered up towards the bar, trying to look like she belonged, nodding at the bouncer to greet him and headed to the door when the bouncer stuck his hand out. "Excuse me, ma'am," He began, politely, but brusquely, "I'm going to need to see your ID."

"I'm flattered," Abigail began, smiling flirtatiously, "But I assure you, I am far over twenty-one."

"I don't doubt that, ma'am, but this is a private club." The bouncer explained, "I need to make sure you're actually a member."

Abigail paused a moment, formulating at story. "Alright, I'm not a member, but I'm the guess of member, he said everything was kosher."

"He got a name?" The bouncer questioned.

"Jacob." Abigail answered.

"Jacob—?" The bouncer asked, fishing for a last name.

"I don't have a last name, he's a relativity new friend." Abigail admitted, "Hey, your name wouldn't happen to be Jacob, would it?"

Abigail fled, and then suck around the bouncer from the other side, suddenly wishing she hadn't worn all white with red shoes. She slid back into the alleyway, where, just as she hopped, there was a kitchen entrance. She hurried up to it and tried the door, only to find it locked. "Damnitt." Abigail cursed under her breath. She then pulled a hair pin she had in her hair, putting in the keyhole and working at the mechanism until it went _click._ Feeling an excited tremor of hope, she pushed the door opened and saw two men and a woman in cook uniforms staring at her.

"Okay, I have a grand in cash in my purse, and if you let me through, it's all yours to split however you like." Abigail offered.

Successfully birding the kitchen staff, she slipped out of the kitchen, stepping onto lush red carpet, and found herself in a somewhat smoky room filled with dark teak and red velvet furniture, a bar in the corner, with about a dozen or so men chatting away. There something inexplicably eerie about the place, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"I found The Club from _The Breathing Method_." Abigail whispered to herself, "Or the place where the syndicate hangs out." She then stepped out, surveying the room, trying to figure out which one could be her man.

At the nearest table to her, there were two men, short glasses of a brown liquid in front of them, laughing. "Excuse me," She said when she got to the table, getting their attention, "Is, um, either of you name Jacob?"

They both stared at her like they were unsure what to say. "No," The man on the right said, "Sorry."

"Thanks anyway." Abigail told him, "You, uh, wouldn't happen to know a Jacob, would you? He would be member of the club."

"Well, there's a probably a couple of Jacobs' here." The man on the right responded, "Could you give us a little more detail, like a last name, maybe?"

"Nate…" The one of the left whispered.

"What, she got in, didn't she?" The one on the right, Nate apparently, reasoned, "You know security's thorough here. She has to be safe."

While they were having their disagreement over the matter, Abigail slipped off, murmuring to herself, "I _wish_ I had a last name." _Or a description. Or anything else to go one for that matter. Maybe I should have pushed Melanie harder. What's the point of keeping a physic around if you can't get a straight, solid answer?!_ By then she reached the next table, where a rather forlorn looking man sat, nursing a glass of clear liquid, though she doubted it water. "Excuse me, I'm looking for a man name Jacob, you wouldn't happen to be him, would you?"

The man looked her up and down. "I wish." He declared, gulping down the rest of his drink.

She slipped away, going to the one of the couches, where an old man in a gray suit was sitting, reading a leather-bound book and smoking a cigar.

Meanwhile, at the bar, and who, like almost everyone else in the room was dressed in a dark suit, with light brown hair and the barest hit of a light brown beard, was staring at Abigail, calculating his next move.

"Excuse me—" Abigail began, address the man with the book in the cigar.

"No." The man cut her off, not looking up from his book.

Taken aback, she asked, "No, what?"

"No, my name is not Jacob." The man elaborated before finally looking up, "It's Walter. Like that journalist. Or that grumpy dummy that comedian uses."

"How did you— "Abigail started.

"You just asked three different people if they were named Jacob." He cut her off, "It's not that far of a leap. And before you ask, there's one man here named Jacob tonight. I could introduce you but for your own safety and everyone's else for that matter, I don't think I should." After a beat he stared at her, saying "As a matter of fact, leave this place and rethink your life choices, while you're at it."

Suddenly, Abigail turned around, against her will, walking back towards the kitchen when the man at the bar stepped out in front of her, stopping her descent, grabbing her by the arm. "Club rules, Walter." He said in notable Cajun accent, "No powers if you got them."

"And no business." Walter warned him.

"That's why I was about to take this outside." Jacob answered, walking towards the door. Before they left, Walter grabbed Abigail's free arm.

"I'd advise you to turn back now." Walter told her, "You lie down with the dogs, you get fleas."

"I'll invest in flea dip." Abigail said, before Jacob pulled her away roughly.

They walked out of the building and down the street before Abigail spoke. "I know how this may seem, but I'm not a threat. I just need your help."

"And what makes you think I can help you?" Jacob questioned, waving his hand, "Or would want to for that matter."

"Because a physic told me someone named Jacob was the key to helping me rescue a child, and then there was something about vipers and six o'clock." Abigail explained.

Jacob scoffed as a car pulled up.

"Look, I've Shanghaied a physic small business owner, spent a small fortune in supplies, traveled all over the country, broke into a gentlemen's club, and used all the cash I had on me to buy off the kitchen staff at least here me out." Abigail pleaded.

Jacob forced her into the car, before sliding in himself. He had to admit, he was a little impressed by some of the exploits she just described. "Alright, little lady," He began, "You got four hours to tell me why I shouldn't kill you before I get out of this car."

Not reacting to the threat on her life at all, she asked, "What do you know about angels? Specifically, Nephilim? And what if I told you we had had a little over a month until one was born?"

Now Jacob was intrigued. "I'm listening."

In the bunker, Sam officially had the excuse of cooking dinner, which he actually was, cooking dinner. He had a large pot of fettuccini on one burner, a pot of the mildest cream sauce he could find in the other, and grilled chicken in the oven, a little shout out to last year.

Checking everything once again, he realized it was time to get one more thing ready.

He walked in the stacks, only to find Hannah and the kids nowhere to be seen. "Hannah?" Sam called out, "Dean? Cas? Maudie?"

He continued to search the bunker, calling out their names until he saw them first red rose petals on the floor.

He followed the floor down the hall, as the carpet of roses got ticker and thicker, more colorful stopping to the bedroom. He turned and saw Hannah sitting on the bed with the children, a big pile of roses at their feet.

"Ah, Sam," Hannah began, before he had a chance to get a word out, holding up the purple maternity dress Sam had laid out on the bed, "Why is my dress on the bed?"

"Ah, why are there so many flowers are the floor?" Sam countered.

This Starlah looked nothing like the one Elsbeth caught Dorian in bed with. This one was rather mousey and shy, blonder hair done back in a limp ponytail, dark rimmed glasses, in a sleeveless white sheath dress embroider with white flowers, shifting back and forth in white heels she clearly wasn't use to.

"Thank you so much for seeing me on such short notice. "Starlah said nervously as she stepped into the apartment.

"It's no trouble." Elsbeth assured, "Just—sit over there, I'll be with you in a moment."

With that Elsbeth ran to the guestroom, which she had shut, cracking it to check on the door. Vanessa and Scarlet were doing their homework and Dory was looking at the red, white and pink decorated shoe boxes filled with Valentines from the parties both classes held. Everything was going okay.

Closing the door, Elsbeth walked back to her customer. "So, what were we thinking?"

"Just a French braid." The girls answered.

"Herring bone or fishtail?" Elsbeth asked.

"Um, herring bone." Starlah answered.

Elsbeth took out the girl's ponytail, and began the work of combing out her hair. "So, big plans for the evening?"

"Um, I guess you could say that. "Starlah admitted, "I'm getting married."

"Wedding on Valentine's day, that's romantic." Elsbeth commented, smiling a little.

"That's what I thought." Starlah replied.

As Elsbeth worked on the braid, combing and plating, she talked with Starlah about the girl's impeding nuptials until finally she got to the end of the braid As she tied off the end of the braid, the oven timer dinged, reminding her of the chicken wings. "And we're about done." Handing the girl, a mirror, she suggested, "Why don't you just take a look at that while I take care of something."

As Starlah looked at her braid, Elsbeth quickly put the chicken legs on plates, grabbed some oranges and put together three ham sandwiches, and took them all into the guestroom.

"Okay, guys, here dinner, "She said, laying it out in front of them, "Momma will be back in a little bit."

"Can we come out now?" Scarlet asked.

"In a little bit sweetie." Elsbeth assured her.

When she came back out, Starlah was standing up. "Um, what was that all about?"

"I, um, I had to get my kids dinner." Elsbeth admitted, "Sorry, for the moment by studio is also my brother in law's apartment, it's a long story. Is, the, um, braid alright?"

"Yes, thank you." Starlah beamed, pulling out the money, and handing it to her, "Thank you so much. Sorry, gotta go."

"Good luck." Elsbeth said as the girl handed her, her money and left.

"Thanks!" Starlah called back, heading out the door.

Elsbeth relocked the door, then collapsed on the couch. She was happy with her life as it was, her girls were all she needed, she decided, but at that moment she felt so. Freaking. Lonely. That was when a voice called out. "Can we come out now?"

Elsbeth started laughing. "Yeah, baby, you can all come out now."

They family ate their dinner together. As they cleaned up the kitchen, Elsbeth turned on _GAC,_ and the video for "Our Song" just happened to be starting. _"I was riding shotgun with my hair undone in the front seat of his car. He's got one hand feel on the steering wheel, the other on my heart…"_

Vanessa and Scarlet started giggling, dancing together and twirling each other, pulling Dory into the pick. Smiling, Elsbeth joined them, and all was right with the world once again.

At the bar, Rawls and Serena Joy were still dancing, Serena Joy giggling and Rawls twirled her.

" _I'm going to get dressed up, go downtown, live it up and never live it down, anything's better than feeling the blues!"_ Edith finished, then kept strumming a few more cords, finishing the song out, " _Anything's better than feeling the blues!_ Thank you! Thank you! Now, this next one goes out to a special couple in the audience, all, five of you, because I really owe them." She then started strum a familiar cord on her guitar.

"Is she…" Rawls began.

" _Baby why you wanna cry? You really oughta know that I just have to walk away sometimes…."_

She began.

"I think she is." Serena Joy grinned, "They're playing our song."

At the corner of the bar, a man neither of them had met and had wound up at the bar by sheer happenstance, finished the last of last of his whiskey, staring at a picture of a woman and girl with chestnut hair. Sticking it in his suit jacket, Tabbris, walked outside. Rubbing his face again, he pulled out a flip phone and dialed the number, within a few moments, Abigail's voice came through the other end. "Hello?"

"Abigail, it's me." Tabbris began, "Tabbris." Suddenly he couldn't say anything else.

"What's wrong?" Abigail asked, amusing the worst, "Did something happen to the baby?"

"No, no, no the baby's fine." Tabbris assured him, "I just—I was thinking about you and needed to talk to you. Make sure you were okay."

"Oddly enough I actually am." Abigail smiled, looking over to Jacob.

After Abigail had told Jacob her story, he changed his tune, calling his father and asking the next breeding cycle, whatever that meant, setting up a meeting, and then calling for someone to fetch Melanie and the Winnebago.

"But the thing is, I'm a little busy at the moment, "Abigail told him, "Can I, um, call you back you later?"

"Sure." Tabbris, answered, "But Abigail…. I'm sorry."

Abigail was taken aback for a moment. "For what?"

"Everything." Tabbris answered, before they hung.

"Who was that?" Jacob asked.

"My ex, Tabbris." Abigail answered, "Don't worry, he has no clue what I'm doing. What I'm trying to do. Outside of Melanie, no one does."

"Speaking of Melanie…." Jacob began.

"No." Abigail cut him off harshly, "I still need her. _We_ still need her. If she's not alive when your people bring the Winnebago, deals off, and before you respond, keep and mine I haven't given you enough information where you can easily find them on their own."

"Alright, little lady." Jacob agreed, giving her a sly smile.

Deciding to not to protest the nickname her newfound ally had decided to give her, Abigail asked, "So, how much longer until we get to Shreveport?"

"We should get there by at about ten." Jacob answered, then the two sat in silence.

"I had wanted to surprise you." Hannah was explaining back in the bunker, "I've putting it together for the last couple of days. I've been keeping these." She held up a large bouquet of multi-colored roses, "In one of the storage closest since yesterday. Which is almost when the boys help me make this." She pulled out a white box opening it, revealing a heart shaped box, decorated with thick pink and frosting and lined with frosting. "Sorry, it might be a bit stale. I probably should have waited until today to make it."

Sam laughed. "It's probably a good thing, otherwise you would have seen what _I_ was doing."

"Huh?" Hannah asked, not getting it.

"Hannah—I was going to surprise _you._ " Sam told her, "I've set up the table, got dinner cooking, sat your dress out, Charlie and Magda snuck in here to watch the kids so we could eat by ourselves."

"Wait, are you saying that there have been two people in the house all day, and I didn't even realize it?" Hannah asked, finding this concerning.

It was that moment he realized that, giving someone one-time permission to basically break into their house was probably overstepping. "Sorry, I didn't think that one through." He began, "Look, this only worked because they had a key. If someone were to actually break in, we would know it. Still, that was a mistake, I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

Hannah reached out, caressing his face. "It was still a really sweet gesture. Thank you." Then she kissed him

"Eww!" All kids protesting, Dean adding, for good measure, "Cooties!"

"Married people can't get cooties." Sam told him, "Marriage makes you immune."

They set the kids up with Charlie and Magda and a movie— _Lady & The Tramp_ coidentally enough—and then changed clothes before meeting in the kitchen. Sam was in his fed suit, making last minute adjustments to table now covered with a white table cloth, two sliver colored candlesticks holding tapered candles that were now lit, and two plates of pasta topped with grilled chicken and cream sauce. That was about the time Hannah walked in. Looking up, he asked, "Still trust my judgement?"

Hannah smirked.

Two days later, Reason walked into General Mechanics sitting down next to Vinny. "So, how did your girlfriend like—Her voice trailed off when she saw Vinny's neck, which had two hickies on it.

"What?" Vinny asked.

"Nothing." Reason replied, "I just got an answer to my question."


	88. Do Me A Favor

" _Stay with me, Joe." A woman with curly brunette hair pleaded, turning back to look at the man lying in the back seat. He had his hand over a wound in his chest, blood seeping through it, "Keep pressure on it, we'll be at the hospital soon."_

 _Joe didn't look in good shape. He was pale and his breathing was getting more and more labored._

" _How the Hell did he even find us?" The woman asked aloud to herself, making a sharp turn nearly hitting another car. "Come on!" She shouted honking the horn._

" _Carrie…" Joe rasped._

" _Save your strength, baby." Caroline urged, "Just keep putting pressure." She found a way around the car and drove around it, then turned her heard to check on her boyfriend, before turning back around._

" _Carrie…" Joe rasped, barely audible, "Carrie…." Then he closed his eyes, letting out a shuttering breath, then went still._

 _Caroline noticed the sudden quiet. "Joe?" She asked, turning around to see him lying completely still. Not breathing. "Joe!" She shouted, alarmed and distraught, nearly running into the oncoming lane of traffic, before angry honk caused to her put her eyes back on the road and swerve back, pulling to the curb. She put the car into park, ran to the back seat, desperately looking for a pulse. "Joe, Joe?! Joey, please! "She started desperately trying to preform CPR, "Please, Joey, don't do this! Joe, Joe, Joe, Joey, Joe, don't leave, please don't leave! Joe!"_

 _This went one for fifteen minutes before she had accepted that Joe was gone._

 _In shock, she got back into the driver's seat and just sat there. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. All she could do was sit there._

 _By the time Caroline got to the no tell motel they had been staying at with Joe's body, it hit her and she was crying so hard she could barely see. She managed to get the body inside without anyone seeing it, putting in on the bed. She cleaned it as best she could, washing off the blood and putting on one of his other shirts, the white lien one, hiding the ugly wound, before wrapping it in tatty blue bedspread. She wished she had something better. He deserved better. He had deserved better than a broken woman with psychopath on her tail, too, but here they were._

 _She then went to the bathroom washing out as much blood as she could, grabbing a bottle of sleeping pills she had left on the counter and wrote out a note, folding it and placing it on Joe's body. "I'm sorry." She told him, "He'll come for me too, now. He can't have me, not after he's taken so much. I have to act fast. See you soon."_

 _She drove out to Brookland Bridge, which was somehow deserted. Parking it out the side she tossed in a handful of sleeping pills, then got stepped out of the car, filling her pockets with stones before climbing up on the edge waiting for the pills to take effect. She stood there, starring out into the dark water. That was when she heard it._

" _Wait. Don't."_

 _Caroline turned her face upward staring up at the sky. "What-"_

It all started when Sam put the kids down for their nap, and step back out of the room to find Hannah standing there, visibly shaking.

"What are you doing up?" Sam questioned, "You're not supposed to be up on your feet if it's not completely necessary." Dr. Robert had stopped short of putting Hannah on bed rest, but he had been very clear that she could keep all strenuous activity to minimum.

"Wow." The woman said, suddenly, "I'm sorry, it's just—this is my first time really getting a good look at you. I mean, I've seen you before but—face to is something different."

Suddenly Sam realized that wasn't Hannah. "Caroline?"

She nodded. "Don't worry, we think the baby will be fine so long as we're quick about this, so she's put a limit of five minutes on this, so we need to be fast. I need to talk to you. Look, I don't think I'm going to come out this thing alive, this pregnancy. That's fine. I'm fine with that. But before I go—I have some unfinished business. I can't do it, because shot gun rider, Hannah can't do it because pregnant and basically brought down to normal at this point, that leaves you so—do me a favor? I hate to play this car but before I answer keep in mind, I was basically the one who talked your wife into admitting her feelings for you in the first place."

"Fair enough, so, what do you need?" Sam asked, thought this felt weird even for them.

"I need you to kill someone for me." Caroline declared firmly.

"What?" Sam balked, taken aback.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." Caroline told him, "You'd be taking out a monster. This man has robbed and murdered and tortured, and left a trail of heartache in his wake…"

"Caroline, Caroline, back up for a moment." Sam told her, "Why don't you start up with _why_ you want this person dead?"

"Because he killed the love of my life." Caroline answered, "Because turning me into a criminal wasn't enough." After a beat she elaborated in further detail, "Look, when I was eighteen, I met this guy named Oliver Must. He was two years older than me and at first he was nice, funny, and I wasn't exactly in a good place at the time, it was my first real time away from home, my parents had died in car crash the year before and I was still grieving and he made me feel –good again, at first. Then he started changing, he got mean, territorial, possessive, have these scary , violent adult temper tantrums if I went out without him knowing where I was or if I was longer then I was supposed to be, isolated me from friends, co-workers, teachers, the cusion who took me in after the accident—except when he needed me to get money from my trust fund because she was in charge of it 'till I turned twenty one—my parents, you see, they left me a lot of money. You might see where this is going." She paused to collect herself. She knew she didn't have much time. "Anyway, after a real bad night I finally told him to get out and he did not take it well, next thing I know he's holding a gun to my and he's forcing me into his car. That began my six years in Hell."

"What about your cusion?" Sam asked, horrified at what he was hearing, "Didn't she report you missing?"

"Oliver made me call and tell her that I left him but was staying underground for a while to shake him, so I couldn't tell her where I was." Caroline answered. "After that he'd have me send a post card every few weeks to keep her from getting suspicious, letters, calls when he wanted me to get money. A gun to your head makes you a pretty good actress." She had to pause a moment then she added, "The twisted thing is by the end of it he didn't even need the gun anymore. Hell, when he finally let me go, I begged to stay. But the money ran out and we had a close call with the cops. He said they were looking for two people so we should split up. I don't know why he just didn't—" She made a slit throat motion with her finger, "I guess he knew by that point I was all Stockholmed up and wouldn't say anything. Plus, by that point I had been his accomplice in about two dozen scams."

"I'm not seeing that you had a choice." Sam told her, fighting back a shudder at not only what she was telling him, but probably what she was leaving out.

"Yeah, well, at that point I was too screwed up to realize that." Caroline told him, "It took me years before I came to terms with the reality of the situation. And then I met Joe and suddenly –it was like there like there was light in my world again. We were—in the same line of work, so it's not like he was a saint, even in the original version of a term, but he was sweet. We were happy. And then—Oliver found out about us, somehow. First, he got my number, started leaving threatening messages, saying that we going to pay for this, that I belonged to him. That he was going to kill us both. And those were some of the nicer ones. We switched phones, stopped the grift we were working before the pay day even came in, and for few weeks that was the end of that. Then we were in New York, walking down the streets and –out of nowhere jumps Oliver and shoots Joe. We barely got away, but—I couldn't make it to the hospital in time. "She took a minute to pull herself together, then finished, "I cleaned up his body, left a note asking them to give the body to his mother, and went to the Brooklyn Bridge. I think you know what happened next."

"That's where Hannah found you." Sam guessed.

Caroline nodded. "So, will you help me?" Just then, Hannah's cell phone started to ring to ring. She looked at the ID. "Ah, Sam," She said, holding it out for him to see, "Do you know this number?"

"That's Rawls' private phone." Sam began, "How did he even get your—her- "

"It's hers." Caroline said before handing the wheel over back to Hannah, who fell against the doorway before answering the call, "Hello?

"Hannah, it's Rawls." He explained, "Serena Joy gave me your number—"

"And I'm still peeved at you for what you did!" Serena Joy called out in the background.

"Well it's a good thing I did, didn't I ?!" Rawls shouted back.

"Did what?" Hannah asked, a pit forming inside her.

"Look, I'm going to need you not to freak out, okay?" Rawls began, "I know who you really are. I know why you needed a fake identity to get married. I didn't say anything, because, well, you didn't give me much reason to be suspicious and I figured you were trying to go straight—but at the same time I was worried you might be doing some kind of grift on Sam, so I had all your known aliases flagged—"

"How—" Hannah began.

"Hannah, please just listen, "Rawls began urgently, "Two days ago, someone in in Union City, Tennessee was asking about an Alanis Jinkins. Said he was PI."

That pit got tighter. Hannah had borrowed that aliases while looking for a rouge angel, but it turned to be hoax. In Union City, Tennessee.

After getting her job she started paying for everything cash, but she often used Caroline's aliases when claiming to be state police, or a reporter, or whatever she was misrepresenting herself as, because well, they were already there. Now she was starting to think that was a mistake.

"A week before that, a cop was looking a Cindy Snyderson in Lanercost Missouri." Rawls continued, "And Erica Carroll in Pennsylvania, and Alice Palmer in Georgia—"

 _Alice Palmer?_ Caroline balked inside Hannah's head, _You used the alias I specifically told you not to?_

"You hadn't told me that yet when I used it." Hannah protested.

"What?" Rawls responded, thinking he was talking to him and confused.

"Sorry," Hannah apologized, "Rawls, do you know if it's all the same person?"

"I don't know for sure, but I think it might be." Rawls responded, "The point is, somebody's coming after you, you need to look out."

"Thank you." Hannah told him sincerely, "I have to go, I need to tell Sam what's going." With that she hung up. "Sam, I am so sorry, I had no clue she was going to ask you to do _that,_ I was learning a lot of that along with you actually—but I think she might have, had really good timing."

"He was bit older, but, yeah, it could be him." A woman in a _Lowe's_ uniform said, standing in the doorway of her apartment, "I didn't like the guy to be honest. Something about him just—sent off warning singles, you know? That reporter, uh, is she okay?"

"We don't know yet." Sam downplayed, "Did he leave a card or anyway to contact him?"

"Yeah, he gave me his card." The woman said, "I still have it, give me a second." She turned around, hurrying back inside.

"Well that does it." Sam declared, "This is Must." He rubbed his face. When he worried about their pasts endangering their family, this was not something that occurred to him. His phone pinged, and he quickly checked it.

"That Hannah?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, and Eileen." Sam confirmed, "I asked them both to check in regularly."

Since Sam and Charlie couldn't be two places at once, Sam called in some favors with the hunters he thought he could trust with this and handed out a few. Tova had been in Mexico When Sam called and took Georgia, Freddy was in Lanercost, Charlie asked Cal to go to Penylsvia no questions asked, Jody and Donna were looking at Joe's murder in New York, and since he was worried that somehow Oliver might find the bunker, he asked Eileen to stay with Hannah and the kids.

"Sam, you don't think that's a bit extreme?" Charlie asked.

"There's a woman - beating murderous psychopath looking for my wife because he thinks she's the woman who he believes to be his property." Sam recapped, "I don't think I'm being extreme enough." Just then the phone went off. "Hey, Jody, please tell me you have news."

"I got good news and bad news." Jody told him, "The bad news is, Caroline majorly wrecked any case against Oliver when she cleaned up the body. No witnesses, contaminated blood, DNA and fingerprints. The good news is, we did some digging and I think I have a lead of where your guy might be now. I'm texting you the information and we'll meet you there."

"Sure thing." Sam agreed, "At this rate I'm going to need all the help I can get." Then he hung up, looking at the location.

Just then the woman reappeared in the doorway, handing Sam a small paper card. "I hope this helps."

"Thanks." Sam responded, taking.

Back in Lebanon, Hannah was spreading peanut butter onto bread, trying to steady herself.

"I really wish you would let me help you." Eileen pleaded, trying to get a jar of jam from the cabinet.

"No, I need to do to this." Hannah said, reaching for the same jar, or so she thought, "I need to do something to get my mind off this."

Aside from being worried about Sam going up against a dangerous criminal who had already killed two people, not to mention Charlie, she was also processing everything she had just learned about Caroline's past, because she had never learned anything about it herself up until then. In the last few years the pair had come to sort of easy commensalism: Caroline let Hannah used her body to go about her business, whatever it was, and Hannah left Caroline alone, likely reliving her better memories, if some of the exceptions to this rule were any indication. While Hannah knew the woman had experienced pain, she had never imagined the extent of the trauma.

She was so distracted, she started towards the wrong jar in the cabinet, when a voice in her head said, _you know you're about to put vanilla almond butter on top of peanut butter, right?_

Hannah froze, pulling her hand back. "Caroline?"

Eileen nearly opened her mouth to inquire what was going on, then she realized what was happening.

 _I'm sorry._ Caroline began, _I didn't think you would take it this hard. If anything, I'd thought you'd be pissed at me over what I asked Sam to do._ When she had made her request for face time with Sam, she had left out the little tad bit of wanting to ask him to murder someone.

"Oh, when the shock from this wears off, I likely will be." Hannah told her.

"Mommy?" A voice called out, "Who you talking to?"

Both women whirled around to see Dean standing in the doorway, looking almost worried. Which if you saw your mother talking to herself, even if you were just four, it probably would be a bit worrying.

"Just Eileen, little one." Hannah covered quickly, slapping on a smile and trying to pull herself together, "Lunch will be ready in few minutes, go play with Cas and the girls."

Dean saw thought the fake smile. "Why are you sad? Do you miss Daddy?" He knew when Daddy to go on a trip he got sad.

"Yes." Hannah decided to say, because it was at least partially true and Dean didn't need to know the rest of it. He was too young. Suddenly before she could stop herself, tears were welling up in her eyes.

The little boy walked towards his mother, wrapping his arms around her legs. "It's okay, Mommy. He'll be back."

Hannah wiped her eyes, taking a few deep breaths to try to calm down holding her son for dear life, when suddenly there was a knock in the door.

Eileen went up the stairs to the door, a gun behind her back, and opened the door, revealing Abigail who seemed surprised to see her. "You're Sam's friend, right?" Abigail quickly regained her composure, "Or his friend's friend?"

"Yeah." Eileen said, folding her arms, "What do you want?"

"I was in the aera, visiting an old friend's step daughter." Abigail told her, "I thought I should check in. Are, uh, are Sam and Hannah here?"

"Sam had to , uh, run an errand , you could say." Hannah said, coming up the stairs.

"Hannah, don't." Eileen said, putting her arms out, "You shouldn't be climbing in your condition. I can slam the door on her myself."

"I'm pregnant not an invalid." Hannah told her, still walking up, "And that won't be necessary." Now _really_ wasn't a good time for company, and even thought she had forgiven Abigail, she wasn't sure she trusted her, this was the woman who had told Sam to either let her die or abandon her and take their children, after all, but she had obviously come here for a reason. "Would you like to come in?"

"Yes, thank you." Abigail answered, then paused. With Sam gone, a long flight of stairs between Hannah and safety, she could do it now. She could take her. She could push Eileen over the railing, grab her and be gone. She almost reached out and grabbed her, but then looked at the road and realized she would have to drag a struggle unwilling woman down until she got to where she had hidden the Winnebago without anyone noticing and intervening or calling the cops. And getting Eileen out of the picture likely wouldn't be that simple, considering the woman's vocation. And with the boys no doubt in the bunker she wasn't likely to trick Hannah into coming to Winnebago with her willingly, not without the kids in tow at least. She was going to have stick to the plan.

 _Abigail and Jacob walked into an office of sorts, where a man with thick, smooth white hair was waiting for them, dressed in a suit with a dark blue tie. He looked up when the pair walked in the room. "Jacob," He began, "This is her?'_

" _Yes, Sir." Jacob confirmed, "Gail Shaw, meet my father, Monroe Style."_

" _Sit down." Monroe told them both, "Tell me more about this Nephilim. Now, from what Jacob told me, the mother in this case is the angel?"_

 _And so, Abigail told him the whole story. Monroe seemed a little too hung up on one detail for Abigail's comfort._

" _A female angel that can conceive and carry the child…" Monroe mused, considering the possibilities._

" _She can't be allowed to live." Abigail spoke up, "She'll ruin the girl. And once she recovers, keeping her contained would be like trying to keep a crocodile or chimpanzee as a house pet. "_

" _No, no, of course." Monroe agreed, "We'll do anyway with the messenger and when she's old up enough, the Nephilim will marry one of our boys and pass her powers down to their children."_

 _Abigail got a sick feeling in her stomach. They were talking about the child like nothing more than prime breeding stock._

 _Sensing her apprehension, Monroe said, "She would be well cared for, of course. We'll adopt her, she'll be part of the family, she'll want for nothing. In fact," he leaned in, "She's going to need a governess."_

 _Picking up to the implication, Abigail asked, "Are you offering the position?"_

" _You do have experience with the species." Monroe reasoned, "But first, how close do you think you can get to the biological parents?"_

"Look, I understand if this is a bad time," Abigail began, "But—can I come for a little bit? I mean, at least let me help you back down the stairs."

Meanwhile, Sam was behind the wheel of the Impala was Charlie was in the shotgun seat, looking through all the trail Jody and Donna had gathered.

"Wow." Charlie was saying, impressed, "How did they—put this all together?"

"Well they _are_ actually cops." Sam pointed out. It was part of his logic of asking them to take New York. He figured it would at least get their foot in the door.

Charlie hit serval buttons on her lap top. "Hey, take a look at look at this."

Sam pulled over, looking at one of the pictures Jody had sent of a man going by the name of Lester King, who three women in Utah were claiming were taking advantage of their elderly mother and keeping her away of them. "I removed the facial hair, changed the hair style, and eye color, looks a lot like Oliver's mugshot only older, doesn't it? And speaking of which—" She pulled up an almost identical picture, "This an age progression I did of Oliver's '04 mugshot from when he and Caroline were arrested in Sacramento. Look familiar?"

"This—this could really be him." Sam said in disbelief. "But why…."

"Maybe he's using the old lady's money to fund his search." Charlie speculated, "Think you could send these to Hannah, see if Caroline recognizes him?

At the bunker, the kids had been fed a lunch of peanut butter and plum jam sandwiches, and Hannah was explaining the situation to Abigail. Abigail sat there, thoughtful for a moment, before she asked, "And you—you had no clue about any of this?"

"No." Hannah confirmed, "She never told me, not that we talk that much. I mean, she's managed to reach out, she's even helped me with a couple of—problems, and she told me once she had a man she loved who died, but—she's never gone into detail, and I never really pushed. I mostly just leave her alone."

That was Eileen spoke up. "Can I ask you two something, probably personal. How do you make a marriage work when your body's not your body, it's just a rental?"

"Caroline's always been okay with the relationship." Hannah justified, "Even encouraged it."

"Mine was bit more complicated." Abigail told them, closing her eyes a moment. If she wanted to gain their trust, she had to do this. "PJ's a friend of mine. Since childhood actually. When I left for school, he actually followed me out there, got a job as the same flower shop as me." After beat, she added, "Not in a creepy way, of course. Anyway, I don't know how much Tabbris told you, if anything, but my roommate's best friend was doing a report and she found this—Coptic summoning ritual at the library while we were doing research, and we were a dumb bunch of kids, so, we decided to try it, see what happens, PJ came along for the ride. So, we got together, preform the ritual, then sudden—PJ starts arguing with someone, but it's not any of us. I actually, thought he was drunk for a minute. Next thing anyone us knows— "Her eyes darted down, then up again, "And to this day I remember it, exactly, PJ says, 'alright come on then' then PJ wasn't PJ anymore." Another pause. "Even with everything that came after, it was the weirdest night of our lives. We never really talked about it after, and honestly, I was starting to think we made the whole thing up, some or short of shared delusion or something, when one day I'm walking to work and I heard wing beats. You can probably figure out what happened after that." There was another paused, as she began overcome with emotions. She wanted to stop talking, but for some reason she couldn't. Besides, if she was going to gain her trust, maybe she needed to bare all. "The thing you need to know about PJ is –he's got issues. His childhood was like a bad gothic misery lit, and, probably because of that, I'm no shrink he couldn't really—connect with people, like—like you suppose. I was the exception; I don't know why. I remember one night, months after the summoning he got really drunk and I had to put him to bed, and he told just before he passed out, he couldn't love. I don't know if that's true or not. I guess he thought that if he couldn't have a functioning relationship, he'd help me have my secret supernatural romance, if that made me happy. Ever since then he's been Tabbris'—channeler, I guess you call it, on and off, whenever he needed. "She was silent for a moment before shaking her head. "Ga, now that I hear out loud, the whole thing sounds so demented."

"Not demented, just— "Hannah began, searching for the right word, "Honestly, I don't know what to do with that."

"And I don't know what to do with your—situation." Abigail countered they were silent for a moment, the switched topics, "You know, as long as we're on the subject how this rental thing work with Nephilim? I like the term Eileen here came up with, rental."

"They have their own bodies." Hannah responded, confused by the question, "They don't need a host, you should know that."

"No, that's not what I'm talking about." Abigail informed her, "I mean the angel's the parents, but they don't have the—you know DNA material, not on their own at least. So, does the baby like have two daddies, or in this case, "She gestured up and down to Hannah, "Two mommies? Tabbris told me even angels weren't sure of how it works, but that was long a time ago. Do they—did they ever figure that out?"

"It hasn't exactly been high on the priority list." Hannah responded, "When process someone we invade all of them that's why the—you know—is ours. Apart from that, nobody really knows. At least I think so. I mean before I got pregnant, I only knew the basics about Nephilim." Just then Hannah's phone pinged, alerting her to a text.

"That Sam?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah," Hannah confirmed, staring at the text, "He sent me an age picture of man they think might be Oliver and some age progressions Charlie did, wanted to see if it looked like him—ah!" Suddenly there was an almost inhuman screaming in her head and it actually felt like someone was pounding her skull. She began clutching her forehead.

"Hannah, what is it, what's wrong?!" Abigail demanded, genuinely scared, jumping up and coming to the angel's side, along with Eileen.

"It's Caroline." Hannah got out, "She's—she's flipping out."

"I think we should take that a yes," Abigail responded, helping Hannah up, "Come on. Eileen, can handle this, you just tell Sam's what going on."

"That can wait." Eileen insisted. She still didn't trust Eileen as far as she could throw her.

They walked out of the room Abigail tried to reach the human inside. "This really isn't helping, you know."

That didn't help either, episode went on for fifteen more minutes, before they were finally about to calm Caroline down, but Hannah was left drained. "She's…she's stopped. I won't say she's fine, but…she's calmed down somewhat." Then she texted Sam, giving him the affirmative.  
"And you?" Abigail and Eileen asked at the same time, concerned.

"I—I think I need to lie down, for a few minutes." Hannah admitted, trying to stand up.

Abigail took her by the wrist helping her up and throwing her over her shoulder. "Come on, tell where you bed down."

"She was like an animal." Hannah mused as they went down the hall, processing what just happened, "She's never—she's never done anything like that again."

"Well, in all fairness, from what you've told me this SOB basically ruined her life." Abigail reasoned, carrying her towards the bedroom, "Twice."

"You can't really expect her to have a clam, rational reaction to seeing him." Eileen pointed out, carrying Hannah from the other side.

They reached the bedroom and lowered Hannah down on the bed with tender care. "There you go." Abigail soothed, gently brushing the angel's bangs out of her eyes.

"Do you think…do you think…" Hannah began, clutching her belly.

"I don't know," Abigail admitted urgently, "Is your doctor's number in your phone?"

Hannah nodded.

"Alright, so, I'll call him, he'll check you out and you we're figure this out, and then I'm reading Sam the riot act for leaving you alone near the end of the difficult pregnancy, even if it was for a worthy cause." Abigail soothed.

"It's not as bad as that." Hannah defended Sam, " Eileen's here and people have been checking in…" And with that she lost consciousness.

So, that ruled out trying to take her while she was unconscious even if she wasn't genuinely worried about the baby.

"I'll stay with her, just go." Eileen said urgently, putting her distrust of Abigail aide for the moment.

"Thanks." Abigail said, before running off to where they left Hannah's phone.

"She what?!" Sam balked, off to the side as Charlie, Jody and Donna watched, Serena Joy giving him a rundown of what had occurred.

"She's asleep." Serena Joy told him, "Has been since it happened. Now, it doesn't appear she's hurt, and it doesn't appear the baby's hurt. Abigail and Eileen helping Dr. Robert, Reason and Magda are keeping the kids distracted by teaching them how to can, and none of us are leaving until we know for sure she's okay." _Especially since me and Rawls aren't exactly on speaking terms right now._ "I'll let you know the nanosecond I have news."

Sam exhaled. "Thank you. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Just get this guy." Serena Joy told him, "Okay?"

"Okay." Sam agreed, before hanging up and walking back to the group.

"How is she?" Jody asked.

"She's been asleep all day." Sam told them, "Apparently Caroline had a bag reaction to the photos." He rubbed his face wearily.

"Sam," Jody began, "Do you need to go home?"

"No," Sam said, running through his hair, "This guy is a danger to everyone around him and possibly a threat to my family specifically. Plus, I owe Caroline. I need to see this through."

"Okay then." Jody said, "'Lester' apparently lives with his mark most of the time, but he also keeps a place here. First floor, right over there." Taking out her gun and readying herself in a professional fashion, she added, "I say we go see what he's got in there."

Jody took the lead, followed by Sam, then Charlie, then Donna, hurrying up to the door, knocking on it. "Lester King this is the police, you need to open up." The demand was met with silence. "Lester King!" Again, silence. "Okay, one , two…"

Sam and Jody kicked the door open, entering an innocuous looking beige living room.

"This doesn't look like living room of a murderous, brain washing, eldering robbing psychopath." Charlie noted, suddenly unsure they had the right place.

"He's got to have left something somewhere." Sam declared, and with that they began to search the house.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, Hannah slowly opened her eyes, momentarily blinded by the light. She looked around the room and has Abigail sitting at the foot of the bed instantly jumping up when she saw Hannah was awake. "How are you feeling? Do you remember what happen?"

"Yes," Hannah began trying to sit up, only for Abigail to stop her.

"Don't –don't try to get up." Abigail ordered, "Just lay back."

"How-how long was I out for?" Hannah asked.

"About a day, give or take." Abigail admitted, "But don't worry, the others are with the kids, we've been taking shifts, everything' fine, everything's being taken care of, just—lay back, I'll get Eileen and we're get the doctor." With that she ran out of the room.

First she went to the kitchen, where Serena Joy was stirring a bowel, the kids hovering around her, while Reason stood back just letting her do her thing, since it seemed to be working. Seeing Abigail poke her head, Reason quickly hurried over to her , nodding for Serena Joy to keep going.

"She's up." Abigail whispered, then her eyes darting around the room asked, "So, uh, where's Eileen?"

"She and Magda slipped off to stacks, hopping they could find something." Reason whispered back, "Come on."

Eileen pulled yet another book off the shelf and sat it down. "Any luck on your end?"

Looking up first to make sure Eileen could see lips, Magda, answered, "No." Then, seeing the others entered the room said, "Something's happened."

Eileen whirled around as they walked in. "Good news." Abigail began, "She's up."

Eileen let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I'll go check on her again you call Dr. Robert."

"Alright," Abigail agreed, going to where they had left Hannah's phone, as none of them actually had the number.

Abigail was alone when went to get the phone. She was going through the saved number when her own phone went off. Thinking it could be Jacob or another one of her new found allies, she checked her phone and saw it was Stacy, the stepdaughter of Abigail's college roommate, one of the girl's involved in the ceremony. She hadn't been lying about going to see her, because she lived in the aera, just outside of Lawrence, by sheer happenstance,, even though they didn't know everything about each other's lives they had kept in touch, and Abigail didn't want to bring Melanie along, she hadn't convinced the Styenes that physic hadn't outlived her usefulness, and in addition to being in the aera, Stacy lived in an somewhat isolated aera and while sweet, was gullible. Even Abigail couldn't believe Stacy had bought the story about Melanie being a friend she was helping kick a drug habit. Abigail picked up the phone, trying to stay calm, "Hey, Stacy."

"Abigail, I think your friend needs to go to the hospital." Stacy declared, urgently, "She came to a couple of hours ago, and she started just—going crazy, the things she was saying wasn't making sense, she nearly knocked over GoGo's tertium." She nervously looked over to a class case containing a dark-colored alligator monitor who was rather unhappy at the moment. "I know buddy, I know." Then addressing Abigail said, "Do you realize how dangerous that could've been? He's a sweetie, but he's still an animal and has highly deadly bacteria in his mouth." In the back ground, banging and the sound of someone demanding to be let out, "I got her locked in the bathroom now and she's tearing it apart in there."

"Stacy, Stacy, clam down." Abigail urged, "You don't need to take her to the hospital. I told you, the withdrawals are causing her to hallucinate. That's why she wanted to be under, she just doesn't remember. Just—give her another does of Haldol, it'll be fine. No need to get anyone else involved." If Melanie got her barrings enough, she could leave enough details out to actually get out.

Stacy looked at the bathroom, where the sounds of something being thrown and shattered could be heard. "How?"

"Just let her tire herself out, then do it." Abigail reasoned, then hearing what was going on in the background, added, "On second thought, do you still have that cattle prod?"

Back in Utah, the group came up empty in the living room, but when they search the kitchen, Charlie found a leather-covered box under the sink, secured with a pad lock, "I found something."

Everyone came over as Charlie as it on the counter and pulled out a set of lock picks. She worked the lock until it opened, and she lifted the top revealing of pile of driver's licenses with different names, and pictures of man who at first glance, looked different. "Johnny Holder, Nathan Links, Jobi Taggert…oh, look at this one, Joseph Mills."

"Don't look at me, I don't know this person." Jody declared, "Donna, take that from her, make sure it's secured properly. If we can't get him Joe's murder, maybe someone somewhere can get him for one of the crimes he's committed using these. Maybe more than one. We can maybe put him away for life, if he's multiple sentences."

"Here we go." Donna commented, carefully taking the box from Charlie and securing it in an honest to God evidence bag.

Going over to the counter, Jody saw several withdrawal forms and money orders. "Lorelei Banks." Jody read, "The same woman who's daughters are taking to court. We also got some legal documents and credit cards in a bunch of names. Might have him for credit card fraud."

After that they didn't find anything of value until they hit the bedroom. The bed side table has two drawers. Sam opened one and saw a stack of pictures, topped with a carton of cigarettes. " _Virginia Slims."_ Sam read, showing Charlie them, "This is Caroline's brand."

"How do you know that?" Donna asked, still feeling out the situation she only recently learned of.

"I think Hannah found them in her blazer a couple years back." Jody explained.

Looking through the pictures with the others, Donna asked, "Sam, has Caroline ever died her hair blonde?"

Remembering what Hannah once told him about Caroline's memory he said, "Yeah, I think so. Why?"

Donna held up a picture of a woman with straightened blonde hair in a dark coat, walking down the street. It only got her profile, but could easily be her.

"I got another one." Jody declared, holding up a photo of a woman in her mid to late twenties with short red hair, adjusting a manikin in a shop window. That was definitely Caroline. Grabbing one closer to the bottom of Caroline in a server uniform with her hair it's natural color, but longer, and on a hunch, looked at the back. "2005. He was stalking her since at least a year after he let her go."

Charlie picked one up and froze.

"What?" Sam asked, afraid of the answer.

"Sam, look." Charlie said, holding out of picture, of a woman dressed light brown colored shirt, dark gray or maybe brown shirts, gray blazer and pants rolled at the ankles, looking apprehensive in front of a busy intersection. "This was taken early 2014."

Sam's heart clinched in panic for both women.

"Sam," Jody began, realizing what was going on, "Sam, look at me. Sam, that's the last picture, and there's a huge gap of time in between this picture in the last picture of Caroline. Except for this he lost track of her after Hannah took up residency. And we are locking this guy up and throw anyway key. They're all safe."

Sam got his barrings back together and said, "These should probably be bagged as evidence."

While that was being done, Charlie was looking in the closest, "Sam, take a look at this." She took a black back pack out of the closet, which was half open. She sat it down and pulled out white colored rope, black dup takes, gloves, a gun. "It looks like some sort of kidnap murder kit." What if there were more murder than they realized?

Just there was movement from the living room. "What the Hell?!"

Exchanging looks and nodding, Sam and the woman jumped out, guns drawn. "Police, hands in the air."

Alarmed, but sure of a way out, Oliver Must, raised his hand, along with a dark haired young woman haired young woman who looked bewildered.

"Who are you?" Charlie asked.

"Emma Hoffman." The woman answered in a shaky voice.

 _Lorelei's granddaughter._ Donna mouthed.

"I just thought if I could talk with him, he would leave us alone." Emma stammered, as Oliver took several steps back.

"Stop moving." Sam ordered, pointing his gun at him, "Down on the ground."

"Okay, okay," Oliver said, lowering himself to the ground.

While the women kept their guns on the man, Sam went over and began to cuff him "Oliver Must, you're under arrest for abduction and false imprisonment of Caroline Johnson, the murder of Joe Johnson, no relation, and whole lot of other things. You have the right to remain silent, anything you can say can be used against you in a court of law…"

That's when things started to go wrong. Oliver started to fight, kicking and somehow managing to kick Sam in the shin. Sam kept hold and tried to pin them down, and Jody fired a warning shot. When that didn't work she fired another, but that one missed and Oliver pulled his own gun from the back, managing to get to his feet and grab Emma, who let out a frighten scream. "Nobody moves or she dies!"

Everyone froze. "Alright." Sam agreed.

"Guns down." Oliver ordered.

Everyone complied, lowering their weapons to the ground.

"Now, here's what's gonna happen." Oliver began threateningly, "I'm walking out of here and I'm getting in my car and I'm driving out of town."

"Alright," Sam agreed, "Just let the girl, go."

"I don't think so." Oliver grinned manically, "This bitch is my ticket outta here."

That was when Emma really started to panic. "No, please…."

That was also when Sam's cell phone rang.

Oliver turned around, giving them a shot. Jody managed to grab her gun , shooting Oliver in the shoulder, which caused him to let go of Emma. Sam also managed to get to his weapon and, as Oliver turned around, shot him in the knee cap for good measure.

"Alright," Donna began, grabbing the cuffs from the ground, "Let's try this again, Oliver Must, you are under arrested for…"

"Sam," Jody calmly whispered over to him," I never thought I'd say something like this, but I need you to get the picture of Hannah out of the bag and destroy it. It risks exposure to them both and now I think we need to get the real cops."

"Okay." Sam agreed, going back down the hall and pulling out his phone at the same time.

"Okay," Abigail said, the next morning at the bunker, carrying a bowl and cup on a tray to Hannah, "Hot cereal topped with fruit and warm milk."

"Thank you." Hannah said, adjusting herself into a more upright position, "You really don't have to do all this." She was starting to get embarrassed with everyone dotting and fawning over her. "I don't want to be burden to anyone."

"Hannah, you're not a burden." Abigail told her, "Everyone here cares for you and the boys and want to make sure you're all okay."

Hannah eyed her questioningly. She understood why the girls were helping, but Abigail and Hannah, or anyone else in the Winchester family for that matter…they weren't that close.

"Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot." Abigail began, "I know that's a bit of an understatement. But if I left now and something happened to you or the baby…I don't think I could live with myself." Then she turned to go.

"Abigail wait," Hannah called out, causing Abigail to turn around, "Would you like to stay for a bit, maybe talk?"

Abigail turned around. "Sure. That actually sounds good."

After a long conversation with Hannah, Abigail snuck off to the stacks. Going up to a set of file cabinets, she opening them up and began looking through them, looking for names. _Come on, come on, Sam, you're telling me you don't' keep any contacts in here?_ Seeing a name that she thought she recognized, she took a picture, then took several more of other names. She didn't want to take the files, lest someone notice they were missing. Hearing someone coming down the hall, she quickly shut the door, stowing away her phone.

"Abigail?" Reason asked, coming into view, "What are you doing?"

"I. um got lost." Abigail lied quickly, "You know how big this place. Easy to turned around."

Reason narrowed her eyes, suspicious, but not having enough evidence to outright accuse her. "Well, come on." She said, leading her out the room.

By chance Eileen was the first one to see them. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you all really look like crap."

"Hello to you, too." Sam smirked weakly, signing as she spoke "So where is…everybody?"

"Your room." Eileen answered, "Come on, I'll show you."

They walked into the bedroom to find Hannah on the bed, the boys on either side of her, and Maudie at her feet with Abigail sitting in a trail by the bed.

"What's all this?" Sam asked good naturedly, causing everyone to look towards him.

"Daddy!" The boys screamed running towards him, Maudie hot on their tail.

"Hey, guys!" Sam beamed, crouching down with arms wide opened, "It is so good to see you."

"It's good to see you, too!" Dean exclaimed.

"Mommy got sick!" Castiel informed him.

"She missed you, too!" Dean added.

"And I missed all you guys, too." Sam told them, holding them tight, "And you were so good with Mommy being sick. Thanks guys. Is okay if I go check up on her?"

They kid walked out of the way and Sam walked up to her, crouching down and stroking her hair. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better." Hannah told him, "Dr. Robert's even talking about letting me stand again." Then looking Sam in the eyes, she changed the subject, "Is it done?"

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "It's done."

Shortly after Sam's return, Abigail headed out to Winnebago, which she moved closer when she realized she was going to be staying longer than she had planned, but not close enough to risk anyone finding it, and the proof of her deceptions and alliances that lay inside. She unlocked the door stepping inside, turning around and locking it, she turned around pulling out herp phone dialing a number, putting it up to her ear. "Hey it's me. Sorry, it took a little longer than I thought, but I made some headway. And I think I got us what we needed."

Around that same time Serena Joy arrived at Rawls apartment. He quickly opened the door, ushering her inside. "Is—"

"Everything is fine." Serena Joy assured him ,"They—they took care of it. Can, can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure." Rawls said, afraid of where this might be going.

"I'm sorry." Serena Joy began, "I know what you did came from a place of love and concern for your friends, and I shouldn't have got mad. But—there are things about Sam and Hannah you don't know. Things that aren't my place to tell you. They might decide to tell you one day."

"And I'm okay with that." Rawls responded, "And I'm sorry, too. I should have taken the issue up with Hannah when I made her identity. "

"So—are we good?" Serena Joy asked.

"I'm good if you're good." Rawls replied.

"I'm good." Serena Joy confirmed.

"Then we're good." Rawls agreed.

Two days later, Hannah stood in the doorway of apartment, watching Caroline, naked as the day she was born, dancing around singing into a hair brush, while Joe, sitting on a dull couch, watched, laughing. " _I, recommend getting your heart trampled on, to anyone, yeah. I recommend walking around naked in your living room, yeah."_ She did a little twirl.

"I see that." Joe laughed.

Realizing there would never be a good time to interrupt, Hannah quipped, "Do all your good memories involve you being scathingly clad?"

Caroline whirled around. "Hang on, Joey." She told the memory of her boyfriend, grabbing a wine-colored blanket, wrapping it around herself and running up to Hannah, "No, no, no, no, what are you doing here? What about the baby?"

"The baby will be fine." Hannah assured her, thought she was rather nervous about that herself, "I needed to talk to you and you haven't exactly been very communicative since…well, you know."

"I am so, so sorry, Hannah." Caroline told her, "I would never do anything to hurt you or your baby, it's just…"

"I understand." Hannah cut her off, "And it's forgotten. I actually wanted to give you a bit of good news. You're dead. Well, they legally declared dead, and Oliver's been charged with your murder, aggravated murder actually, the attempted abduction of his most recent mark's granddaughter, elder abuse, and several lesser crimes, if not by much. He's got seven states fighting over him. Joe will get justice. _You_ will get justice."

Caroline was silent for a moment, letting it sink in. "Thank you."

"Caroline, I'm so sorry," Hannah declared sincerely, "Maybe…"

"Hey," Caroline began, putting her hands-on Hannah's shoulders, "It's okay. _I'm_ _okay_ _with this._ At least this way I figure I can give someone the happy ending I was denied." After a bit she laughed, "Oh good Lord, now I'm talking like you. In fact, as long as you're here, wait a minute, there's napkins in the kitchen." After a minute she came back holding napkin with a number on it, which she handed to Hannah. "Here. Commit that number to memory."

"What is this?" Hannah asked, staring at the number perplexed.

"A number for a bank account in the Caymans,." Caroline answered, "I Caroline Johnson, being of probably not entirely sound mine, and surprisingly sound body, bequeath my corpse and all my worldly possessions to Hannah Winchester on the condition the money goes into colleges funds for her three children. Or doctor bills. Or ransom in the event of the kidnapping."

"Caroline, I can't—" Hannah began.

"You can and you will okay?" Caroline declared before giving Hannah a kiss on the cheek. "Okay, that's a bit weird. Don't you have any other form?"

"You were my first." Hannah informed her.

Caroline started laughing. "Oh, honey, you don't know what that sounded like."

Eventually Hannah opened her eyes, just in time to see Sam walking in with a tray. "Did you—"

Hannah smiled at him. "She says thanks."


	89. Adoption Story

"And this Mommy when Scarlet was in her tummy." Vanessa explained, pointing to a picture of a very pregnant Elsbeth, sitting on a leather couch.

"She's ginormous!" Scarlet declared.

"Thanks." Elsbeth scoffed from the kitchen.

Elsbeth, Sam, Serena Joy and Reason were all the kitchen, while the kids were looking at some old albums they had found on the couch.

"You're welcome. "Scarlet pipped up, "Uh…what did I do?"

"What happened to the couch?" Dean asked.

"I dunno." Vanessa shrugged "This is Mommy and Scarlett and me in the hospital." She pointed to picture of all three of them in a hospital bed, a two -year-old Vanessa holding Scarlet with her mother's supervision. She then pointed to another photo of them with a man who was holding a little baby. "And that's us and Daddy and Dory at the hospital after she was born."

"Why does he look like Mr. Rawls?" Castiel asked.

"He's Uncle Benny's brother." Vanessa explained.

"Where is he?" Dean asked innocently.

"Aliens took him." Scarlet spoke up, "They said they'd bring him back, but they didn't say when."

Reason looked up from the homework she had been doing, Serena Joy spat out her coffee, and Sam turned his head to look at the children.

"Hey, why don't we do something else now." Elsbeth suggested a bit too brightly, taking the album form them and sitting a puzzle in front of them.

"Aw!" The kids moaned in unison.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Elsbeth encouraged, getting the album as far away from them as possible.

"What just—" Sam began in a whispered.

"It' s a long story." Elsbeth whispered, "Let's just say when you love your kids are trying to avoiding alienating them against your good for nothing co-parent until they're old enough to come to that conclusion themselves, you get creative."

That was when Maudie looked over the couch, pipping up, "Mommy, why are there no pictures of us at the hospital or with me and your tummy?"

"Actually, I have one, honey, come here." Serena Joy offered, pulling out her phone.

Maudie came over, climbing into Serena Joy's lap as the young woman scroll through almost four years of photo before coming to one of a barely seventeen-year-old Reason in a hospital gown holding a newborn Maudie.

"Why does Mommy look scared?" Maudie asked.

"Because this woman I didn't know from Adam was insisting on taking our picture." Reason pointed out.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Serena Joy justified, "It's not my fault this one was too cute."

That was when Dean and Cas peered over the couch. "What about us, Daddy? Are there pictures of us at the hospital or in Mommy's tummy?"

Sam froze. Here they went again. What did he tell them? How did he explain it?

Realizing something was going, Elsbeth suggested, "Who wants to bake cookies?"

That distracted the kids, flocking over as she pulled some garbanzo bean flour out because they didn't actually have any cookie mix, it was just the first thing that hopped into her head, and that was first thing she pulled out from the cabinet.

That night Hannah spat out one of the cookies as Sam explained what happened. "What do we do?" She asked, "What do we tell them? And why in the name of all that is scared do humans insist on trying to grind up things that aren't grains and call it flour?"

In spite of the situation Sam grinned. "I don't know. As for your first I think it's time we tell them the truth."

"What?!" Hannah explained, "Sam you can't be serious. Do you think they'll actually understand?"

"Okay, so the de-aging thing is a bit over their heads right now." Sam declared, "Even if we were going to tell them. But maybe it's time we tell them they're adopted, just a more—simplified version of events."

"Alright, how do we do that?" Hannah asked, calmed down somewhat.

"I don't know." Sam admitted, "But, hey, we're not the first person to every explain to a kid that they're adopted, we can just research it."

And so, that evening, they sat down at Sam's lap top and began looking at different articles.

"Well, we're already missed the first step." Sam started, "Start discussing adoption from the moment you bring them home."

Hannah rubbed her face wearily, letting out a moan.

"It's alright," Sam tried to assure her, "We didn't know. We can still recover from this. Let's see what else this says. Be-age appropriate. 'While it's important to talk about your child's adoption at every stage of life, how detailed you are with your adoption story may change as you get older'. There's even a link to a guide…"

However, even that proved complicated for the parents, because theirs was not what one would call a normal adoption.

"Technically Dean did grow in someone else's stomach as one time…." Sam mused, "Even if Cas wasn't."

"But it also says to let them know we wanted to be parents very much," Hannah pointed out, "As much as we love them now, it wasn't exactly what either of us was looking for at the time."

"Well, we don't have to follow the directions verbatim." Sam suggested.

Reading the list, Hannah noted, "There is something we can do completely honestly."

"What?" Sam asked.

"Say we adopted them and they'll be our children forever." Hannah explained, "And expressed the gratitude about the way they came into our lives." After a beat she walked that back. "Well, maybe just the they're in our lives part."

Sam nodded. The whole 'de-aging' thing hadn't exactly been a marvelous time for anyone involved, but Dean and Castiel were theirs now and they couldn't be happier about it.

Two days later, the boys sat curled up between their parents, as Sam read a story about a Queen and King who left that something was missing and followed a red string across the ocean to find a baby girl.

"The end." Sam finished, "Boys, did you like that story?"

"Huh-uh." Dean confirmed and Cas nodded.

"Good." Sam said, "Because there's something me and your Mommy need to talk to you about."

"You remember how you asked why there aren't any picture of you two in the hospital or in Mommy's tummy?" Hannah reminded them.

Both boys nodded.

"The reason we don't have any of those pictures, is because you were never in Mommy's tummy." Hannah continued, "Until now we didn't think Mommy could have a baby in her tummy."

"You see, you grew in someone else's tummy." Sam began, putting an arm around both boys, "But then something happened and she couldn't be with you," which, in Dean's case at least, was true, "And then we found you, and we fell in love you and wanted to be your Mommy and Daddy very, very much, so we adopted you and you're going to be ours sons forever."

"And we're happy and grateful for every day you get to have with you." Hannah added, giving them both a hug.

Cas just sat there, looking confused, but Dean asked, "Does that mean we're not yours?"

"No, no," Hannah say quickly, "You're very much still ours."

"You're our boys and you always we'll be." Sam assured them, "And we'll always be our parents."

However, Dean looked down, sad.

"What is, bud?" Sam asked.

"Are you going to love the baby more cause it's your real baby?" Sam asked.

"No!" Sam and Hannah exclaimed at once. They weren't expecting this to go there.

"You are just as much as real child as this baby." Sam told him, "We love you all equally."

"And under Ancient Hebrew law, we're not even allowed to disinherit you." Hannah added, "We can disinherit her, not that we would."

Cas scrunched his eyes. "What does that mean?"

"You're stuck with us forever." Sam, hugging them both, "We will always love you."

Sam and Hannah had worried that the talk did more damage than good, but a half an hour later they were playing in their teepee roasting fake marshmallows over a fake fire, like nothing ever happened.

"It's like we never even told them anything." Hannah mused as she watched them, astonished.

"Well, the resources said that might happened." Sam pointed out, "It also said, this needed to be an ongoing dialogue, they won't get it after one or two conversations."

Hannah face palmed. They had to go through this nightmare _again?_

Sam took her hand. "It will be fine. As long as they know we love them.

Seeing their parents, Dean asked, "Mommy, Daddy, can you play?"

Sam and Hannah smiled. "Of course, bud."


End file.
